Teen Titans: Vengeance
by Lord-of-Change
Summary: The time has come. For three years I waited. I grew stronger while you rested in your cradle of power. The deluded fools among the Titans and the arrogant Justice League believe that they can stop me. But in the end, there will be no victory. In the end, there will be no justice. In the end, there will only be... Vengeance.
1. Chapter 1: Darkest night

_And here it is, the sequel to Teen Titans: the Corruption! Just so you know, I plan to make this story even darker than the last one, so expect plenty of gruesome and bloody deaths in future chapters (reason for the 'M' rating). But so you also know in advance, I won't be updating as fast as with my last story (I goy plenty of other stuff to deal with now). It will probably be a while before you see a second chapter._

* * *

**Chapter 1: Darkest night**

Jump City

Three years after Raven's death

9 pm

A storm was raging tonight; lightning pierced the dark skies, raging winds whipped the buildings while the rain pounded upon the city below it. The unrelenting storm drove the city's inhabitants to seek shelter indoors and hope that it would pass soon. But deep underground, there were two people who were unaffected by the weather. They were in a pitch black room with the only source of light shining down upon a young girl, looking to be around 20 or something, kneeling on the floor. Her shoulder length hair was of a bright red color, matching her left eye. But her right eye was of a dark green color. Her clothes consisted of a black skin tight bodysuit with a bronze colored utility belt around her waist. Her gaze was firmly locked on the floor right under her, she would only look up when her master told her to. Somewhere in the darkness, the sound of cogs turning could be heard.

"You've had doubts in the past. Made mistakes" a smooth yet chilling voice said from the darkness. The girl could just make out something moving at the edge of her vision, but she did not look up.

"But all that is behind you, isn't it" the voice asked.

"Yes" the girl whispered out, knowing that she did not need to speak loudly for the man to hear her.

"You belong to me now, don't you?" the man asked.

"I do" the girl answered quickly and without a single hesitation. She already knew that she belonged this man, who had saved her from a life of pain.

"From this day forward, will you serve me and me only?" he asked. This was it for the girl, months of training under this man's tutelage and finally her time to pledge her loyalty to him had come.

"I will" she answered without missing a beat.

"Will you obey my every command?" he asked again.

"I will" she answered again. She suddenly found a pair of boots in her line of vision. She looked up slightly, but not enough to see his face. The man was also dressed in a black body suit, but his had armor plates on it.

"Will you fight at my side forever?" he asked as he held out his right hand to her, holding an "S" emblem made of metal and a two toned mask with two eyeholes in it. Half the mask was black and the other was of an orange/bronze color. She accepted the items without hesitation.

"I will" she answered as she fastened the "S" on her uniform before putting on the mask, hiding all of her features save for her eyes.

"And will you destroy the Titans?" he finally asked with great deal of malice. Under her mask, the girl smiled a sinister smile. Those brats had been a thorn in her new master's side for years, and she would make him proud by defeating them in his name.

"I thought you'd never ask" she answered. She could hear a dark chuckle from her master.

"Then rise. Rise not as the pathetic and weak-willed Alice Waterstone, but rise as my apprentice Ravager" the man said proudly. Ravager was instantly on her feet again, looking into the face of her master, or rather his mask that her own was designed from. His single eye was gazing at her empty of emotions and as cold as ice, but Ravager did not mind it.

"Thank you… Slade" she said.

* * *

Meanwhile

While many did prefer to stay indoors this night, there were four people who refused to seek shelter from the raging storm. They were all arrayed on the rooftop on one of the highest skyscrapers in the city, dressed in heavy raincoats that concealed all of their features. A snort escaped the one to the far right.

"So this is Jump City? Man, what a fucking dump!" he exclaimed irritably, his voice like rocks grinding against each other.

"Calm down Carnifex, the place isn't so bad. Besides, the people living here are quite tasty" the one standing next to him said in a silky voice. He was the tallest one in the group, standing at least two heads taller than the others, but he was surprisingly thin. Carnifex growled irritably at him.

"Whatever. I just want to kill something, and really soon" he grumbled out, causing the one to the far left to let out an audible sigh. Carnifex immediately whipped his head around to glare at that person, an insane rage shining in his blood red eyes.

"You got something to say, woman?!" he demanded of her. She did not even look in his direction as she answered.

"Always thinking about killing something. Isn't there anything else inside that brutish mind of yours?" she asked in a condescending tone. Carnifex was now boiling with rage, but at least he had enough self-control not to attack his partner.

"It's not like you're any better, Krystal! You're as bloodthirsty as I am!" he nearly shouted at her. Krystal did not look even the slightest troubled.

"Please, do not even try to compare the two of us. You're nothing more than a mindless butcher, slaughtering everything without care or thought" she said disdainfully "I seek to create beauty in death, a way to give my victims a meaning at the end. What I do is art" her voice gained a dreamlike tone in the end, and only aggravated Carnifex more. But any fighting that may have occurred between these two was promptly stopped by the fourth person.

"_Patience, mes amis, patience. _There is no need to _combattre_ amongst ourselves, we have plenty of _ennemis_ to kill before this quest is over" he said as he gazed out at the city, letting his mind wander. Three years since he was here last and the place still looked as boring as then. So now it was up to him and his merry men to liven up the place.

"_Et si ça recommence_" he said just as lightning stabbed down not too far from him, illuminating the iron mask he wore underneath his hood.

* * *

Two hours later

The storm had finally passed and the skies grew calm. The clouds dispersed to finally allow the moon and the stars to shine down on the sleeping world below them. But there was one person at least who was not sleeping soundly, and was in fact not even in his home. His name was John Summer, he was nineteen years old and he just knew that he was in deep trouble. He had been out partying with his friends when the storm had struck so he had been forced to wait it out before going home, of course he already knew that his girlfriend would not accept that apology. Honestly, that girl reminded John too much of his mother in how she would constantly worry and get mad whenever he was gone too long. So now he was running as fast as he could to get home while thinking of what to say to calm her down.

He suddenly stopped running when he reached an alley, the sound of childish giggles echoing down it. Looking down the alley, he could see what looked like a small child standing there. He squinted his eyes to get a better look, but the shadows were too thick for that.

"Hey kid, what are you doing here so late?" he asked in curiosity. The child just giggled even more before walking out of sight. Now normally you would just ignore it and keep on walking, but curiosity and chivalry forced John's legs to follow after the child. But as he moved into the darkened alley, he could not help but slow down his steps in fear. On some instinctual level, he could feel that something was watching him in the shadows. Wherever he turned, he could feel eyes drilling into his neck. But like all modern men, he dismissed the feeling as nothing more than an imagined fear conjured up by his own paranoia. After all, it was impossible for something to hide in the shadows without revealing something. Modern people, so narrow minded they could be.

He finally caught up to the child, who had run up to a fence that blocked the alley. The child had its back turned to John and was staring off into the shadows. John began to slowly move closer towards the child, all the while his primal instincts were yelling at him to run as fast and as far away as possible. Sweat had already begun to gather on his brow as the feeling of being watched returned tenfold.

"Easy there kid. I'm not going to hurt you" he said while holding his hands in a non-threatening gesture. Still the child refused to even acknowledge his presence and John was getting a little aggravated. His fear was working as a fuel to drive him to just get this over with as fast as possible and get the hell out of this oppressing alley. He was now within arm's reach of the child and his hand was already reaching for the left shoulder.

"Hey, do you even hear what I'm saying?" he asked a little harshly as he forced the child to turn around, his blood turning as cold as ice the moment he laid his eyes upon the child's face, or rather where it was supposed to be. It was nothing there, just a pitch black void where a face was supposed to be residing. John's face turned as white as sheet as his primal urges finally won over the rest of his brain and he tried bolting back the way he just came from. Key word was "tried" as his escape route was now blocked. A mysterious figure, cloaked in the shadows, was standing in his path, glaring at the terror-stricken John. His eyes were wide in fear, looking like they might fall right out of his head at any moment. His whole body was shaking as he began to back away from this new creature that matched each step he took backwards with one step forward. The whole world around John lost importance and focus as his terror-filled brain was solely fixated on the source of his fear. He never even noticed that the child from earlier had disappeared into thin air, the only thing he did notice in his fear induced panic was when his back came into contact with the fence. Realizing that his escape route was cut off, John began to openly cry in despair.

"W-who a-a-are you? What d-do y-you w-w-want?" he managed to stammer out fearfully. But the figure did not answer him, it just kept coming ever closer to John. He was now whimpering and babbling out some barely understandable words about mercy, even sinking to his knees as the fear inducing aura radiating from this figure pressed down on him like the weight of a thousand agonized souls. As the figure moved closer towards John, the shadows trailed after it like an ominous cloak that swallowed up all light. The figure was now standing right in front of the still kneeling John, who had even dropped down on all fours and was crying like a baby. John just wanted this to be over now, he fervently wished that this was just a bad dream and that any minute now he would wake up in his cozy bed. Such salvation never came to him.

"_Look at me" _John suddenly heard. It sounded like it had spoken in his head, but he just knew on some basic level that it was in fact the mysterious figure who had spoken. Slowly and with a trembling body, he raised his head to stare at the thing in front of him. He stared deeply into the dark abyss that served as this creature's face, even though every fiber of his being was begging and screaming at him to look away from this unholy monstrosity. And suddenly, he caught sight of a single part of his assailant; its right eye. But it was no normal eye, it was barely even what you could call an eye. What he saw was an eight-pointed star with a serpent's eye at its center, glowing an infernal red down on him.

John could not take anymore of this, and he finally screamed in utter terror. His scream echoed through the alleys before it ended with the unmistakable sound of a sharp object piercing soft flesh, followed by a wet tearing noise as something organic was ripped out. It suddenly grew quiet after that, as if the night had swallowed up all sounds, until soft footsteps were heard leaving the scene.

* * *

Unknown location

One hour earlier

Silence reigned in the ancient hallways while darkness held it in its cold and mysterious grip. But the reigning forces were dispelled when heavy footsteps began to echo in the halls, originating from a robed figure holding a torchlight in his left hand. A golden cross hanged by a silver wire around his right arm. He walked in silence, only making sounds with his footsteps. Onward he walked through the dark hallways until finally he reached a massive door guarded by two knights dressed in shining white armor and wielding golden halberds. Without a single word spoken, the two knights stepped aside to allow the robed man entry while pushing the door open for him. The robed figure kept his eyes firmly locked on the floor as he stepped in, lest he becomes blinded from the sudden and overwhelming light bathing the room within.

He had entered a circular chamber with ten balconies set high into the wall. On every balcony sat a person, but the robed man did not look upon them, both because it would be considered blasphemous for someone like him to behold such holy men and because the blinding light originating from these men would surely destroy his eyesight if he were to look upon them.

"Welcome warrior" one of the men said, his voice weighted down by old age and spoken like the words of a kind grandfather. Where the voice originated from, no one could tell. For while it was only one man who spoke, his voice rang out from all around the hall. It was a defense mechanism to prevent any would-be assassins from pinpointing the source. The robed man kept his head bowed to these messengers of the Lord.

"We have much we need to discuss" another one said, this one sounding more gruff. The robed man remained silent, waiting for either his masters to speak or to give him permission to speak.

"The shadows of evil are stirring yet again, the sins of the past are returning" the words held an ominous meaning to them that put the robed man on edge, but he refused to give a physical reaction.

"The Heartless is rising from the shadows, and destruction is following in his wake" a weak and raspy voice spoke "But in His divine wisdom, the Lord has come before us with a task" now the robed man was listening with even more intent.

"By our decree, and that of His holy words, it is time to call upon new warriors to stand among the honorable ranks of the Templar" For the first time, a sense of anticipation and excitement entered the robed man. There could only be one reason for these men to reveal such glorious news to him, and he had to struggle with all his might not to bounce in happiness.

"As you might have already concluded by now, we have called you here to bestow you with an offering; to join God's most stalwart warriors on Earth" a deep, booming voice announced "But this is an offering, we will not force it upon you. So, do you accept?"

The robed man could now feel their gazes of expectancy weighting down on him. He knew why, because he was the most talented swordsman in his generation. He was also a deeply spiritual man that his teachers held in high regard for his pious personality. In his eyes, they did not even have to ask him to join. It was God's will that made him a warrior, and it would be like spitting him in the face to decline the chance to fight evil and wickedness in his holy name.

"I, Zacharious Vespus, accept this offer gladly. With God by my side, I will purge the evil that festers in this world" he said proudly and without hesitation. The moment the words had left his lips, a section of the floor in front of him opened up and a claymore sword rose up to hover in front of Zacharious. The blade was of a strong silver color while the hilt was of a bleach white color. He stared at the claymore in wonder and pride, for this was no ordinary sword. It was forged with the very essence of light and purity, making it into the ultimate tool to purge the damned and the wicked.

"The Heartless has once again dared to show his cowardly face after a year of absence. His return bode ill tidings, for he would have never dared to draw our attention again unless he knew that he could stand up to us. Yet as always, the cowardly snake hides in the shadows, biding his time for the perfect time to strike at us with his venomous fangs" whoever it was that spoke sounded like he was experiencing great pain and anger from his own words.

"But he has made a grave mistake resurfacing again. This time, he will not escape his judgment" Another voice took over, speaking with greater strength "The blade you see before you belonged to one of our brave warriors, a veteran of fifty years of battling daemons, spending his last years of service in his country of birth America before joining our Lord. We still don't know what befell him, but his death has given us a clue as to where to search. We have already gathered a small force of your brethren in order to send them to America in an effort to track the Heartless and his cohorts down. Your mission will be to lead them in this quest" a shiver of anticipation crept up Zacharious's spine. That they trusted such an important mission to him was a sign of great respect and faith.

"Now, Zacharious Vespus, take up this sword and assume the position of captain among the Templars" the order boomed through the chamber and with the confidence to move mountains he swiftly rose to his feet. He reached out with hand and reverently grasped the sword handle. Gravity suddenly tried to reclaim the sword that had hovered in defiance to its power but Zacharious easily held on to the sword, giving it a few experimental swings to test its weight and balance.

"Where exactly will we go?" Zacharious suddenly asked. His answer came swiftly, obviously they had expected that question all along.

"To the western coast of America, in the area called California. A city by the name of Jump City" Zacharious expertly swung the blade so its tip pointed to the ground before giving a grateful bow to the still hidden leaders. _'Beware Heartless, for the Templars are now coming for you. And no amount of devilry will save you this time' _Zacharious thought with righteous anger burning in his eyes.

* * *

Titans Tower

Midnight

Titans Tower, home of the legendary team of superheroes known as the Teen Titans, or rather the Titans these days since none of its members were really 'teens' anymore. For years it has stood as a watchtower over the city and as a symbol of justice. Though both the tower and its inhabitants paled in comparison to the rapidly expanding Justice League, they were still recognized for their hard work, particularly during the Brotherhood of Evil crisis, and the inhabitants of Jump City adored them. The city's inhabitants slept peacefully this night, safe in the knowledge that they have their own guardian angels watching over them.

Though the same could not be said for all of the Titans, since one of them was not finding much sleep on this night. So he stood at the massive windows in the living room, dressed in his full uniform consisting of a black bodysuit with a blue colored bird emblazoned on his chest along with a domino mask covering his eyes. This was the leader of the Titans, Robin. Or as he called himself these days, Nightwing. The title of Robin had already passed down to a younger person, currently being tutored by Batman back in Gotham City. Nightwing had undergone several changes during these years, his hair for example was no longer spiky and he had developed quite a lot of muscle during the years.

As his gaze traveled across the peaceful city, he could not help but feel a sense of uneasiness about it. The ever famous line of "it's quiet. Too quiet" came to his mind. Nightwing could not explain it, but he just had a nagging feeling that something was not right. It was almost like he could smell trouble brewing in the city, and it was constantly nagging him in the back of his head and thus ruining any sleep for him this night. He let his gaze wander from the sparkling city to the star covered sky. _'At least it's a beautiful night tonight' _he thought absentmindedly. He suddenly heard a door open behind him.

"Nightwing, is everything alright?" a sweet and innocent voice asked from behind him, originating from his girlfriend for two years Starfire. She too had developed over the years and had now become a striking young woman. Nightwing turned around to give a reassuring smile to her.

"Yeah, I'm alright" he said, now of all times thankful that he was wearing a mask, otherwise Starfire would have seen the lie in his eyes. Though it did not matter in the end, since Starfire had not been convinced either way, obvious by the delicate eyebrow she raised while giving him a flat look. Being romantically involved with someone for two years tends to develop your skills to deduce your partner. Nightwing did not want to bother her with his own unexplained hunches, so he walked over to her and lovingly draped an arm around her.

"Let's go back to bed" he said before giving a quick kiss on her cheek and leading her out of the living room. He cast one last glance over his shoulder at the sleeping city, hoping with all his might that his hunches were nothing more than paranoia created by overworking. As he would discover in the future, they would have been more and worse than that.


	2. Chapter 2: I'm back!

_And here's the second chapter. For your information, I'm trying to incorporate a few romances into this story now, but I must admit that I'm truy horrible at writing stuff like that. So please, tell me if I'm doing a good job with them in the future. And if I don't do a good job, please give me tips on how to improve it._

_Other than that, happy reading!_

* * *

**Chapter 2: I'm back!**

Unknown location

The next day, 8 am

'_A beautiful day today' _Zacharious thought dreamily from where he stood on a balcony overlooking a beautiful and flourishing garden sparkling with color from all the flowers growing. The sun stood high in the sky, basking the world below in its warm glow. Zacharious was still dressed in traditional brown robes, but he had drawn his hood back to expose his blonde and shortcut hair. His face was tanned and rough looking, with a scar running across his mouth. He looked across the garden with his brown eyes that radiated strength and confidence. He suddenly caught sight of some children running around playing in the garden, protected by their own childlike innocence from the cruel fates of this world. He smiled sadly at his gaze traveled across the youths, it was during moments like these that he remembered what he was fighting for. To protect the beauty and happiness that existed in this world.

He finally turned around and strode back inside. He walked through several corridors, passing people from all ranks. Finally he stopped at a metal door marked with the Templar cross. He quickly opened the door and stepped inside, finding himself inside an armory filled to the brim with medieval weapons. There were already five other people present, each and every one of them a veteran Templar. They were the Templars that had been chosen to accompany Zacharious on his quest. So far they had not noticed his presence and he took the opportunity to identify and evaluate each of them in turn.

He could barely make out someone standing in the farthest corner of the armory. Black leather clothes covered a slim figure while a hood covered the head while a scarf covered up the bottom half of the face. The only things visible were a pair of cold blue eyes that were darting between the gathered people like a predator determining which one it should attack first. This ray of sunshine was Celestine, the only female present in the room. She was famous as an undisputed tracker and archer within the order, and infamous as a cold-hearted and distrustful killer that never really got along with anyone. She rarely spoke and few knew of her past and her reasons for joining, only her superiors truly knew anything of her and they refused to reveal anything. No one even knew her age, but no one dared to ask her. The last on that did it ended up castrated by her while being hung upside down from the walls on open display for everyone. The only thing she said after that was "it's not polite to ask a woman her age".

Next in line was a big fellow currently testing the weights of several different weapons. He was the only one wearing full battle armor at the moment that consisted of a white robe with a black Templar cross on its front drawn over a silver colored plate armor. He wore no helmet, thus exposing his chubby face and, truth be told, pig-like eyes. His black hair hung way past his shoulders and was spread in a wild style. This fellow was Gustaf Halmsted and from the information Zacharious had on him, he was quite a loud and boisterous one. He loved to throw his weight around and show everyone his superior strength, proven during that one time when he wrestled a rhino to the ground. His appetite was one of legend in the order, some even joking that he once ate a black hole and it continued to swallow all food he tried to eat. He was also known as 'the Mountain' because when he decided to stand his ground, nothing short of the fist of God himself could move him.

Next to him stood the oddballs of this group. You could easily tell that they were twins, because they looked so alike that you could have easily mistaken one of them for a mirror the other one was looking at. Both had spiky hair colored lime green with a bit of yellow at the tops, how they found those colors good looking remained a mystery within the order. Their choice of attire was equally disturbing for the traditional Templars, baggy jeans colored purple with a good amount of tears in them and blue hoodies. These two were known a Haze and Blaze, though no one ever tried to tell who was who because those two would constantly swap names with each other just for the heck of it. They were also known as a pair of mischievous pranksters that terrorized anyone that they did not respect, which was no one. But one must never underestimate these two for their immature ways, for they were a deadly combination on the battlefield. Fighting with the synchronization of two bodies becoming one, they protected each other's blind spots and delivered precise and deadly blows in perfect unison to leave a foe dead or incapacitated within a matter of seconds.

The last one was standing apart from the others, observing them just a keenly as Celestine. But where hers was like a wild predator, his was of a seasoned veteran gauging the strengths and weaknesses of his comrades. He, just like Zacharious, was dressed in traditional brown robes at the moment. His hood was also drawn down to expose his pale face and brown colored hair. He wore an eye patch over his left eye while three deep scars, evidently caused by claws, ran down the whole left side of his face. This was Valdemar Longshanks, a twenty years veteran within the order. He was known as a calm and collected soldier, always keeping a cool mind in the face of overwhelming odds. He had also developed for himself a nasty reputation of being extremely cold-hearted, placing the mission before the lives of others, both innocents and comrades alike. Some even went so far as to say that he was in fact a machine disguised as a human.

This was the team Zacharious was supposed to lead into battle, not the most ideal one in many ways. Deciding that now would be a good time to introduce himself, Zacharious confidently strode fully into the armory while clearing his throat. And just like that, all attention was upon him. Celestine was eyeing him from the shadows, looking like she was debating whether to skewer him or not. The twins were smiling broadly at him while a mischievous sparkle entered their eyes, prompting Zacharious to make a mental not to keep those two in his line of sight as much as possible. Valdemar was gazing at him with his single brown eye while giving him a respective bow with his head, obviously he was the only one present who knew who he was. Gustaf meanwhile was looking down upon Zacharious, both figuratively and literally as his bulky form towered above all present.

"And who are you, you little shrimp? Are you the council's messenger boy?" he asked with a mocking tone, causing Zacharious's left eyebrow to twitch in annoyance. Having barely met the big man, and Zacharious already did not like him. But he was their leader as of now and would not allow anger to cloud his judgment, so he mentally took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Actually, I'm your new commander Zacharious" he replied flatly. Gustaf's eyes went wide as dinner plates from that as his gaze traveled up and down Zacharious. Finally, after several awkward moments of silence, Gustaf let out a loud bellowing laugh.

"Are you kidding me?! You're supposed to be our leader?!" he managed to get our between fits of laughs as his gaze again traveled over Zacharious "I could snap you easily with just two of my fingers!" whatever words after that he had planned to utter after that were drowned out by another bellowing laughter from him. Unconsciously, Zacharious's hands twitched a little as he imagined them squeezing Gustaf's throat until it snapped. Before those fantasies had time to become reality, the twins intervened.

"Don't mind the big fellow…" the left one said. Zacharious of course had no idea which of the twins he was.

"… he's like that to anyone…" the other one continued.

"… even to us" the first one finished. Mentally, Zacharious gave a groan in despair. '_They not only look alike, but they finish each other's sentences! Dear Lord, what injustice have I done against you to deserve such cruelty?!" _he cried out mentally. Both twins flashed him a toothy smile.

"Well anyway, I'm Haze…" the left one said cheerfully.

"… and I'm Blaze" the right one said with equal cheerfulness.

"And together…" the left one resumed.

"… we're known as…" the right one continued.

"… The Terror Twins!" they finished together while striking some ridiculous pose. Zacharious felt like just banging his head against a wall right now. A sudden breeze to his left caused him to turn his head slightly and ended up staring into the cold eyes of Celestine. He nearly jumped out of his skin from that, together with Gustaf and the twins since none of them had even noticed or heard her approaching. Zacharious in particular was shocked that she had managed to get this close without alerting him. Trying to cover up his shook, Zacharious straightened himself out while giving a small smile to her.

"Impressive. It seems that the rumors about you do not give enough credit to your skills" he said. Celestine did not look the least bit affected by the praise and simply kept looking at him with those chilling eyes. Finally she broke eye contact and stalked away from him, back towards her dark corner.

"Creepy little lass, ain't she?" Gustaf asked in a mocking tone, but there was no hiding the slightly nervous tone in his voice.

"It is not very polite to talk about a teammate in such a degrading way, and it is most definitively not an intelligent action to antagonize someone who is supposed to guard your back during a mission as vital as this" Valdemar spoke out for the first time in a monotonous voice coupled with an apathetic expression that left many wondering if there was a single emotion in him. Gustaf looked like he was about to start another argument, but Zacharious had now had enough of this.

"That's enough! Now gear up and be ready to depart in one hour!" he barked out, his voice carrying enough authority to even subdue Gustaf.

"Uhh… shouldn't she receive some form of mission debriefing?" one of the twins asked, which one it was exactly only the almighty could possibly know.

"You'll all be debriefed once we reach our destination" Zacharious answered "Now if there are no more question, I suggest you get ready"

* * *

Titans Tower

8 am

Today was proving to be a good day; a cloudless sky, warm sunlight basking the city with a cool ocean breeze gently sweeping through the city's streets. As the inhabitants of Jump City slowly stirred one after the other, they all felt that this would be a great day. It was also proving to be good start of the day for the Titans. We find three of its members gathered together in the living room. Standing in the kitchen and adding pancake after pancake to a pile of pancakes already reaching a man's waist, was Cyborg. Over the course of three years, the cybernetic man had not changed one bit. Being made mostly of metal and electronics did tend to limit body development. Sitting at the table was Beast boy, or rather Changeling as he called himself these days. He had felt that he had outgrown the name a long time ago. And unlike Cyborg, he had seen some serious changes to his persona. He had built up a good amount of muscle, fighting super powered criminals on a daily basis tends to do that to you, while growing in height. Three years ago he was the shortest one on the team, now he was on par with Nightwing in height. His hair was still short cut, but it had become even wilder with the years.

Sitting next to him was the newest member of the Titans. Terra, the former apprentice of Slade who betrayed the team more than four years ago to their nemesis. But in the end, she had redeemed herself by defeating Slade and stopping a volcanic eruption from destroying the city. It had apparently cost her life as she had been turned to stone from the strain and nothing the Titans did could reverse the condition. They had all given up on her in the end but Beast boy, who had been fiercely in love with her, had prayed that she could be brought back to them. By some divine miracle, his prayer was answered when Terra came stumbling into Titans Tower, cold and tired but otherwise unharmed. Many questions had arisen from that, most centering around how she could still be alive and no longer a lifeless statue. Sadly, not even Terra had an answer, as she said that she had simply woken up in the cave with no sign of how she had been freed.

That had been one year ago, and also one year since she was accepted back into the Titans. Many were of course skeptical at first, considering how it went last time they accepted her. But in the end Nightwing had relented, saying that everyone deserves a second chance. Terra had since then worked tooth and nail to prove that she had changed and was not the same girl that had betrayed them anymore. Now she was an established and respected member of the Titans and had even managed to get it together with Changeling again. They had now been a couple for five months. Of course, it had been a little rough when she had inquired of where Raven was. That simple question had stung pretty deep for the Titans, memories they had worked for two years to repress returning. But they could not tell the truth of Raven's betrayal and fall to darkness, so they told her the same lie that they had fabricated for the rest of the world.

"All right, all done!" Cyborg exclaimed happily as he added the last pancake to the pile and in a spectacular display of balance managed to carry the plate to the table without dropping a single pancake. Taking a seat himself, he began piling up pancakes on his own plate with a ravenous look in his eyes. At that point Starfire entered the living room.

"Good morning friends" she greeted cheerfully, gaining a trio of "good morning" in reply. Starfire quickly floated over to the table and loaded up a few pancakes for herself before drenching them in mustard. How she found that tasteful and where she got the mustard from in the first place, no one knew and probably did not want to know. The next few minutes were spent in silence, apart from the flirts and giggles going back and forth between Changeling and Terra.

"So, anything special happening today?" Cyborg suddenly asked.

"Oh, Changeling was planning on taking me shopping today" Terra said innocently. Changeling immediately got a shocked expression on his face, obviously he had not been informed that he had been planning such a thing. He was about to say something, but he received a sweet smile from his girlfriend that practically screamed "say anything and you'll regret it". Not feeling like testing his luck, changeling simply nodded his head dumbly. Cyborg meanwhile could not help but smile in amusement at his friend's predicament, last time he took Terra on a shopping spree the poor kid had almost ended up bankrupt. Changeling suddenly felt a great urge to redirect the attention away from himself.

"What about you, got anything planned for today?" Changeling asked of Cyborg. Cyborg shrugged in shoulders nonchalantly before answering.

"Not very much, maybe start working on the repairs on Nightwing's motorcycle" he suddenly looked around, as if remembering something was missing "Speaking of Nightwing, where is he? He's usually the first one awake" all eyes were immediately upon Starfire, since she and Nightwing shared the same room these days.

"He received a call from the police commissioner a while ago, he apparently needed his help with some case" Starfire explained. The others nodded in understanding and went back to their breakfast. But the tranquility only lasted until Cyborg had an idea and got a mischievous smile on his lips.

"Hey Changeling, I bet all that cuddling with your girlfriend has made you slow with a controller these days" he joked and Changeling swallowed the bait; hook, line and sinker.

"Oh you're so on now, tin man!" he shouted as the two of them bolted towards the game station. After three years the two of them still had traces of their childlike attitude left. Both Terra and Starfire rolled their eyes at their antics.

"Boys" they both muttered, though Terra could not help but smile fondly at her boyfriend when seeing him smile like a ten year old who just got a present. She guessed that his childlike attitude was partially why she loved him.

* * *

Jump City

8.15 am

Nightwing drove down the road at a slow and calm speed, a rarity given how he often had to race at breakneck speeds to catch some criminal on the loose. Needless to say, it felt strange for him to have to refrain from exceeding the speed limits when his whole being had become used to see the city blur past him as he would speed down the streets. But alas, there was no emergency anywhere in the city and thus no excuse to hit the accelerator. Not that the civilian motorcycle he was riding on now could go that much faster. His own custom equipped motorcycle had still not been repaired after the beating it took during a chase after Johnny Rancid, so he had to settle with this one for the moment.

He finally stopped behind a large mob of people, forming a semicircle around an alley and being kept at bay by police officers. Nightwing quickly made his way through the crowd, the people stepping aside to let him pass the moment they saw who he was. The officers quickly parted as Nightwing reached the front of the crowd, but they had to quickly reform after he had passed to stop a particularly sneaky reporter that tried to slip past them. Nightwing made his way into the alley where he was greeted by Commissioner Jason Hudson.

"Nightwing. It's good to see you" he greeted while extending a hand. The three years since the Raven incident had not been kind to Hudson, as showed by his pale and wrinkled face. Old age had finally begun to weight too much on his shoulders and rumors were floating around that he had contracted some kind of disease. Whether that was true or not, Hudson has never revealed but he has stated that this is his last year of service before he retires.

"Likewise" Nightwing responded as he shook the offered hand. The two of them walked deeper into the alley until they reached a fence. But it was the corpse lying on the ground that was telltale sign that they did not need to go any further.

"Third one this week alone" Hudson said gravely as Nightwing bent down to inspect the corpse. It had a look of pure pain and terror frozen on its dead face. The cause of death for this poor fellow was not difficult to ascertain, the corpse had a gaping hole where a heart should be. The clothes around the wound were colored brown from dried blood and small pieces of bone jutted out from the edges of the hole. If one looked closely at the smashed ribcage around the hole and the severed arteries, it looked as of something had first punched through the body before ripping the heart out.

"John Summer, age 19, part time employee at a local hamburger bar, reported missing at around midnight by his girlfriend" Hudson provided to Nightwing. He just nodded his head slowly.

"Who were the other two you mentioned?" Nightwing asked while glancing up at Hudson.

"Björn Sigvid, age 91, a Swedish World War 2 veteran who served as a volunteer on the allied side, found gutted and crucified on the wall in his own apartment with his eyes and tongue cut out. Sally Would, age 15, an orphaned girl on the run from an orphanage in Washington, was thrown underneath a train" he responded, trying to keep a calm and neutral tone of voice but failing miserably. Those had been really gruesome deaths, not the kind that anyone deserved to suffer. Nightwing was not faring much better, he himself was wishing that whoever had done this was right in front of him this very instant so he could beat him to a bloody pulp.

"Anything that connects the victims?" Nightwing finally asked, but Hudson shook his head.

"Nada, the victims had no connections, did not socialize in the same groups, had completely different lifestyles. Heck, they didn't even live in the same part of town" he explained. Nightwing was worried from that. If they had found nothing that the victims had in common then it could only mean two things: 1, they had not looked deep and hard enough to find the link. Or 2, they were dealing with a mass murderer who killed randomly. Nightwing prayed it was not the latter. He had enough bad memories as it was about Victor Zsasz, he was not anxious to add another psychotic murderer to the list.

"Do we know anything of value?" he asked tiredly. So far nothing in this case made sense, and it was aggravating to say the least.

"We know he was killed sometime around 10 pm last night. We also know that whoever this killer is, he's either very lucky or very skilled as he killed the last two in broad daylight without even being spotted" was the answer he received as he stood back up and turned his back to the corpse. But unseen to anyone, a single eye was gazing at Nightwing from a deep patch of shadow, the eye having an eight-pointed star with a serpent's eye at its center engraved in it. A police officer suddenly walked right next to the shadows while igniting a lighter for a cigarette, temporarily illuminating the area to reveal… nothing. There was nothing there except for a few cartons.

* * *

Jump City harbor

8.30 am

Two figures stood together in the shadows of a warehouse, gazing out at the workers milling around completely ignorant of them. But their gazes always found themselves drawn to the imposing T-shaped tower that stood like a beacon on a small island out in the bay. It had almost become a symbol of hope in the city, a sign that there were good in this world; and both figures hated that building with all their heart for that reason.

"A giant fucking T? who the hell live in such a retarded building?" the left one asked as he kept pacing back and forth, his left arm twitching as if it had a life of its own while bloodshot eyes stared out from underneath a cap he wore. The other one was casually leaning against the wall while observing his unruly companion.

"Don't ask me, I sure as _enfer_ did not _dessin_ the place" he stated as he started flipping a coin. The other one growled irritably as his whole body started twitching, his muscles tensing up as if in preparation to leap at a prey.

"I hate all this waiting! Why can't we just start killing something?" he questioned angrily before he shouted "I need to kill something, anything, right now!" causing the workers that were within earshot to back away fearfully, some even reaching for their cellphones in case it become ugly. The other one now approached and placed a calming hand on the wild one's shoulder.

"As I said before, Carnifex, be _patient_. Soon you'll have plenty of _opportunités_ to kill as many as you like. But for now, return to the others and wait for my _ordres_" he said before turning around and walking back into the city. Carnifex turned his head to glare hatefully at the retreating figure's back.

"And where the hell are you going?" he asked suspiciously. He received a creepy giggle from the man before he answered.

"It's been _trois_ years since I last _visité_ this city. I thought I would make a _grande entrée_ for a few old _amis_ of mine" he said cheerfully as he kept walking. Carnifex unconsciously shivered as he thought of what that psychopath would qualify as a "grand entrance".

* * *

Woods outside of Jump City

8.45 am

A sudden explosion of light in a glade caused the whole area to be drowned out by a white light so strong that anyone looking into it would have been blinded. As the light faded away, six figures were revealed to be standing in the glade now, bedecked in full Templar battle gear. Zacharious was at the forefront, wearing a silver plate armor with a white robe drawn over it. A close helm was held underneath his arm while his claymore was strapped to his back. Gustaf was still wearing the same armor, but had now added a great helm with two horns to his head. A huge war hammer was slung over his shoulder and Gustaf did not look the least bit troubled by its weight. Valdemar had also chosen plate armor, coupled with an armet to protect the head. His weapon of choice; a pole axe. The twins had opted for simple mail shirts with nasal helmets. For weapons, they both chose an Ahlspiess. Celestine was the only one not wearing armor of any kind, instead wearing the same attire she had worn in the armory, but now she had a longbow strapped to her back and a wide variety of knives and daggers hidden all over her body.

"God I hate these instant travelling systems" Gustaf muttered. Zacharious ignored him and instead addressed the whole team.

"Alright, we got a whole city to search and limited time to do so. Everyone remembers your assignments?" he asked.

"Aye" Valdemar answered.

"Aye" Gustaf answered.

"Aye" the twins answered in synchronization.

No response came from Celestine. She had already slipped away to carry out her assignment. A fact only noticed when they looked at the spot she had used to occupy.

"She's good" one of the twins said.

* * *

Jump City town hall

9 am

The area around the town hall was cramped with people, hundreds if not even thousands of people. All were there to listen to Mayor Rick Mannfred's speech. Cameras flashed and applauds drowned out all other sounds as the mayor stepped up on the podium. He was a tall middle-aged man with a neatly combed brown hair, smooth face and dark green eyes. He was dressed the same black suit that every politician seems to wear these days while constantly wearing a charming smile on his lips.

"Thank you, all! You're far too kind!" he exclaimed while raising his hands in a silencing gesture. The crowd immediately fell silent, apart from the sounds of cameras going off here and there.

"When I was first appointed as mayor of Jump City, they said that I wouldn't do any better than my predecessor, that Jump City could not climb any higher than it already has. Well, let them say that now!" applauds rang out again.

"In just a few months' time, I have created double the amount of work opportunities and reduced crime rate!" More applauds followed, no one thinking of asking if the last part was more due to the Titans. But unnoticed by anyone, a hooded figure was slowly making his way through the crowd towards the podium.

"Our beautiful city is experiencing a time of great prosperity, and I intend to make the most of it the further improve an already splendid city!" a few people now began to notice the person who kept shouldering past them without care for the irritated looks he received.

"Thanks to the diligent work of Jump City's finest, our streets have never been cleaner. And I say it's safe to look less on upgrading our law enforcement and more on improving our cultural and economic standpoint!" By now, many people were practically shouting at the figure, who was now forcefully pushing anyone in his way aside. Security guards were also noticing the commotion in the crowd.

"Besides, what exactly is the worst that could happen?" that last part had been meant as a joke, but no one laughed. All focus had now been directed at the hooded figure, who had now punched a security guard right in the face and broken his nose. He finally reached the podium, only thing now separating him and the Mayor was a line of security guards with guns drawn. Everyone else was backing away fearfully from this figure, of course their progress was hampered by the fact that those in the back lines were pushing forward in ignorant curiosity of what was going on at the front. The figure now stood in a small clearing, seemingly oblivious to the chaos around him with his gaze locked to the floor. It was now revealed that he also carried a duffel bag.

"Sir, I have to ask you to drop the duffel bag and identify yourself!" one of the security guards demanded while raising his weapon slightly. Though in truth none of them wanted to risk firing on the figure, not with the tightly packed crowd mere feet behind him. What made it worse was that the security guards could see from the figure's relaxed stance that he knew it as well.

"I'm not going to ask again! Either drop the bag and identify yourself now, or we will use deadly force!" he shouted at the figure. That got a reaction as the figure casually dropped the duffel bag to the ground and kicked it over to the security guards. One of them cautiously bent down to inspect it, the other guards never taking their eyes off the figure.

"What's in the bag?" one of the guards asked. The one inspecting it immediately opened it to find out. But the moment he laid eyes upon its content, his eyes grew wider than they should be able to while his skin lost any warmth and color it used to possess. The duffel bag was packed to the brim with Semtex explosives. But as he looked up from the duffel bag, he peed in his pants when he saw that the figure was now holding a detonator in his hand.

"Boom" was all he said before he pushed the button.

* * *

Meanwhile

Both Nightwing and Hudson were just about to pack up and head to the police station to continue the investigation when a loud explosion shook the city. They wobbled a little on their feet while many who were unprepared fell over. Cries of alarm soon followed.

"What the hell was that?" Hudson asked in shock, it had felt to him like a damn meteor had smashed into the city. Nightwing meanwhile was staring at a plume of smoke rising from the city.

"Trouble" he muttered to himself before he sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him to his motorcycle. He did not bother sending a signal to the other Titans, they would have to be both blind and deaf to miss that. As Nightwing speeded away, the remaining policemen were also scrambling to get moving. The one that had been smoking was the last one standing in the alley and he was about to hurry after his comrades when he stopped dead in his tracks. He suddenly felt an unbearable pain in his stomach, like nothing he had felt before. He tried to call for help, but all that came out of his mouth was blood. Slowly and with great amount of confusion, he looked down to see what was wrong. What he saw were four metallic claws, black as night and as long and sharp as knives piercing his stomach from behind. Before he could even contemplate where they had come from, he was yanked into the oppressing shadows.

In the chaos and confusion that reigned supreme after the explosion, no one even missed a single policeman who had disappeared without a trace.

* * *

Titans Tower

Same time

"BOOYAAH!" Cyborg burst out as he defeated Changeling in a game of Street Fighter; again. Changeling meanwhile was sulking in his seat, muttering about cheating tin men. Terra was trying her hardest not to giggle at her boyfriend's misfortune. _'Some things just never change' _she thought humorlessly. She was about to walk over and comfort him when a loud rumble echoed through the tower. All the Titans froze up in confusion, all of them asking the same question Hudson did; what the hell was that? It was eventually Changeling who discovered the answer.

"Please tell me that smoke isn't coming from what I suspect it does" he almost pleaded as he looked out through the large main window. All eyes found themselves drawn to whatever it was he was referring to, and there in the distance they could see a plume of black smoke rising from within the city.

"SHIT!" was the only word uttered by Cyborg before the whole team was racing out of the living room like the devil himself was on their heels.

* * *

Jump City town hall

9.05 am

The area around the town hall was a warzone, that was the only way Nightwing could describe the sight before him. a huge crater occupied the space where a podium used to stand, every window in the surrounding area were destroyed, the walls of the buildings were cracked from the blast wave and riddled with shrapnel holes and of course the worst part; the area was filled with dead bodies. And none of them were in a very good condition. They were either scorched black or ripped to pieces or both of them. Nightwing saw with tearful eyes a survivor stumble out of the smoke, his right arm blasted to bits with only a few bloody pieces of meat remaining attached to his body.

Nightwing took a single step forward, but immediately regretted it as he nearly slipped on something warm and squishy. Even though he knew that he would probably regret it, he looked down to see what he had stepped on. He had stepped right on a man's intestines that had been ripped out of his body by a piece of shrapnel. The body the intestines belonged to lay just a few feet from Nightwing, stomach missing along with half of the poor man's head. It took all of Nightwing's self-control not to hurl up at the sight that surrounded him.

"Nightwing!" the panicked voice of Starfire shouted from behind. Nightwing turned around just in time to be engulfed in a hug. Thankfully it was not the usual bone crushing one, she was far too upset for it. Her big green eyes traveled across the hundreds of dead bodies with sadness and panic. The other Titans had by now caught up and were equally horrified by the slaughter.

"My god!" Terra said in shock while Changeling could not contain himself and hurled up. Cyborg was clenching his fists in barely restrained fury, already planning how many bones he should break before handing the guilty one over to the authorities.

"Who could have done such a horrible thing?" Starfire asked as she broke off from Nightwing.

"I don't know, but whoever it is will pay dearly for this!" he answered harshly, his voice filled to the brim with anger. All the Titans suddenly tensed up when they heard a sound, a sound they had not heard for over three years and had hoped to never hear again; a bird croak. Looking towards the source of the noise, they found a crow in the process of picking out the eye of a dead woman. Despair and anger settled in the hearts of the Titans as they dreaded what this meant.

"No, not him…" Changeling pleaded desperately. Terra looked at him in confusion, being the only one of the Titans who did not see the implications. A psychotic laugh echoed out across the area as a swarm of crows converged on a single spot, melting together to form the body of one of the Titans most hated enemies, one that had been on the run for three years.

"_Bonjour mes amis! Ça va bien?" _Iron Mask asked cheerfully. He still wore the same clothes as before, but now he was also wearing a brown trench coat. The Titans all glared at him with unbridled fury burning in their eyes. Iron Mask just laughed as if he found their stares amusing.

"I get the _impression_ that you're not very _joyeux_ to see me again. Sad really, I had hoped that we could have put all of those nasty _incidents_ behind us by now" he said. Nightwing practically boiled over from Iron Mask's dismissal attitude. He was about to say something in response, but Cyborg beat him to it.

"Like we would ever forgive you for what you've done, you fucking murdering psychopath!" he shouted hatefully while transforming his left arm into a sonic cannon. Terra was taken aback by the open display of hatred and hostility her friends were showing this mysterious man. She even heard Changeling making some animalistic growls.

"Changeling, who is that man?" she asked cautiously. She quickly regretted having said anything as Iron Mask suddenly turned his gaze to her. Terra could not explain it, but there was something deeply unnerving with his gaze that just made Terra want to run as far away from him as possible. Sensing his girlfriend's fear, Changeling protectively stepped in front of her, shielding her from Iron Mask.

"Don't you dare even touch her!" he snarled out venomously. Iron Mask just chuckled as he put his hands into the trench coat's pockets.

"Don't worry, she's not my _type_ anyway" he said before looking over his shoulder. "And who _exactement_ are you, you were not a _membre_ of _les_ _Titans_ last time I checked" something about his tone made it sound to Terra like he was insulting her, something she did not like.

"The name's Terra and I'm a member of the Titans since a year back" she answered while glaring at him. Suddenly, Iron Mask burst out laughing, almost falling over in the process. Terra immediately bristled at that since it was obvious who he was laughing at.

"_Oui_, now I remember who you are! You're _le_ _petit_ Judas who backstabbed the team four years ago! And now you're _supposé_ to be Raven's _remplacement_?" he asked in disbelief before breaking down in another fit of laughter. He then turned his gaze towards Nightwing.

"Have your standards sunken so low that you're _forcé_ to draft in former _ennemis_? And even then, this was the best you could scrape up to fill in the ranks? Man, you just took the _expression_ 'how the mighty have fallen' to a whole new level" Iron Mask taunted. Now every single Titan was glaring hatefully at him, each of them itching for the command to attack. Something suddenly seemed to occur to Iron Mask as he slapped his own forehead.

"Oh right, I _complètement_ forgot to _présenter_ myself! So let me _rectifier_ that; my name is Iron Mask, _immortel_ mass murderer, _mercenaire_ for hire and half-_démon_ extraordinaire!" he said as he gave a formal bow. Terra's eyes went wide in shock from that. She now knew more than well who this was, she had heard more than one horror story regarding this maniac; particularly the fact that he was the one responsible for Raven's death. Terra had been saddened by the news that Raven was dead. Sure, they were hardly friends or anything. Heck, when Terra had betrayed the team all those years ago, her fight with Raven had been the hardest because unlike the other Titans, Raven had not hesitated or held back against Terra.

No, they were anything but friends. But Terra still mourned her death, because she had hoped that she and Raven could have forgiven each other and at least try to be friends. But now they would never get such a chance, all because of the madman now standing in front of the Titans. _'It's too late to save you, Raven, but the least I can do is make sure that your murderer is brought to justice' _Terra thought grimly. A croak from behind the Titans suddenly drew their attention. Turning around, the found a crow sitting right behind them, with Semtex taped to its back. Without a word being spoken, the Titans scattered in every direction, eyes wide with fear and surprise. Barely a few seconds later, the crow exploded, sending the Titans flying in all directions from the blast.

"You'll have to _excuser_ me, but I was getting bored by all this talking and _décidé_ to speed things up" Iron Mask said, still sounding as happy as before. Nightwing gritted his teeth in anger as he stood back up.

"Titans, take him down!" he roared, and just like that all restraints were thrown to the winds. Cyborg fired his sonic cannon at full power, hitting Iron Mask right in the chest with enough force to shatter his ribcage and knock him flat to the ground. He quickly got up again, just in time to get impaled by Changeling as he had morphed into a rhino. Blood drenched Changeling's horn and face, but he cared not for such inconvenience. Changeling kept charging until he smashed the still impaled Iron Mask through a wall. His body suddenly dissolved into crows, only to reform right behind Changeling. He was about to reach inside his trench coat, but Starfire suddenly came down on him with an axe kick and crushed him to the ground.

But Iron Mask just crawled back up again, the sounds of bones snapping back into place accompanying him. Most of the Titans looked unfazed by this, they had seen first-hand before how much of a beating this man could take, but Terra looked a little pale from what she had just seen. Never before had she seen her friends attack with such ferocity. This guy must have left some really deep scars.

"My turn" Iron Mask calmly stated before the sky was darkened with crows. They dived straight for the Titans like a swarm of hungry locusts. Starfire was forced to land to avoid getting surrounded and torn to shreds by the crows, but she kept up a wild barrage of starbolts and eyebeams. She killed hundreds of crows, but more just kept coming. Nightwing was about to rush to her aid when suddenly Iron Mask appeared right in front of him. He could not stop in time and ran right into Iron Mask's punch that most likely broke his nose if the blood gushing out of it was an indication.

"Going somewhere, _mon ami_?" Iron Mask asked as he cracked his knuckles. Nightwing narrowed his eyes at him while crouching into a fighting stance.

"Actually…" he began before without warning leaping straight forward "… I was about to beat you to pieces!" he finished just as he delivered a punch straight into his gut before sweeping his legs from underneath him. The moment Iron Mask made contact with the ground, Nightwing brought out two black metal rods from his belt. Without missing a beat, he rammed them with all his strength into Iron Mask, causing them to let out high voltages of electricity into his body. Every muscle in Iron Mask's body constricted from the voltage, leaving him stiff as a board with no way of moving.

A fact Nightwing was more than happy to take advantage of as he began to mercilessly pound Iron Mask with his fists. Hatred clouded Nightwing's vision, his eyes only seeing the monster lying at his feet. He barely noticed his own fists as they kept rising and falling, his brain did not even registered the pain in his fists as he punched with the force to shatter bones over and over. Maybe he even screamed in rage at one point, Nightwing was not certain, his whole being was focused on crushing the man responsible for what happened to Raven. For how long he kept it up, Nightwing had no idea. All he knew was that that when he stopped, his muscles were aching from the strain and he had become numb in his hands.

"Done now?" Iron Mask, not sounding to be in the least amount of pain. Before Nightwing could even react, Iron Mask reached up and grabbed hold of the front of his uniform before yanking him down to head-butt him one, two, three times. Nightwing was then roughly thrown aside, being too stunned to do anything. With one obstacle gone, Iron Mask easily got back up again while dusting his clothes off nonchalantly. He was about to sneak up on Cyborg, who was a few yards away with his back turned to him as he attempted to fend off the crows, when someone suddenly whistled to his left. Iron Mask turned in that direction in confusion, just in time to receive a car sized boulder head-on.

Iron Mask was smashed into another building with enough force to pulverize both bones and internal organs. Blood squirted out of him across the wall and the boulder as he was squashed like a watermelon, yet he just uttered some French curse words. The boulder kept him flattened out against the wall as Terra approached, her right arm outstretched and glowing yellow.

"That was for Raven!" she stated coldly. To her surprise, Iron Mask just chuckled at her.

"For Raven you say? Then why do you _attaque_ me?" he inquired innocently. Terra frowned slightly, confused by the question, but answered anyway.

"You're the bastard that killed her three years ago, that's why" she tried to sound calm, but anger still managed to seep into her voice. Iron Mask shook his head, as if she had just given a wrong answer on a test.

"So _confident_… but how do you know it's the truth? Where you there to see it with your own two _yeux_?" he asked, and Terra could practically hear the smile he wore underneath that iron mask. Terra was seriously asking why she did not just prop his mouth full with dirt, but something was compelling her to keep listening.

"That's what the Titans told me, and I trust them" Terra explained, gaining another chuckle from Iron Mask before he spoke again.

"Haven't you noticed how _gardé_ they become whenever Raven is _mentionné_, how they always try to avoid the subject _entièrement_?" truth be told, Iron Mask had no idea whether they did it or not, he was just guessing and hoping that he would hit close to home. And judging from the confused and uncertain look that just entered Terra eyes, Iron Mask guessed that he just hit the bullseye.

"There are a lot of _secrets_ you don't know, that they haven't told you. Why you might _questionner_, because it's a truth that they want to bury" he now looked Terra straight in the eye, his gaze trapping hers with its intensity "If I were you, I would start to look deeper into what really happened on that fateful night _trois_ years ago"

Terra was conflicted now. She should not trust this man, she _could_ not trust him. Just listening to his voice, to the way he talked, it was like listening to the devil speaking with a French accent. But there was something about him that made Terra listen. She could not explain it, but she somehow could feel that he was not lying. Or at least telling some small truth. But in her confusion, she unintentionally eased the boulder away and lost focus on Iron Mask. A mistake she quickly regretted when he dissolved his body into crows and reformed right next to Terra. He brought a knee into her stomach before slamming an elbow into her neck. She went down like a sack of potatoes when he finished with a roundhouse kick to the side of her head.

"That is, if you _survivre_ long enough to find out" Iron Mask stated as he stood over Terra's lying form. He pulled out a bowie knife and made ready to plunge it straight into her. He never got that far as a green Velociraptor leapt onto his back and began tearing and clawing huge chunks of flesh from him. Iron Mask dissolved into crows when Changeling tried to tear his throat out and reformed a few feet away. Changeling morphed back into his human form, mouth and hands drenched in blood. But he seemed to be completely ignorant of that fact.

"I won't let you hurt her, you sick bastard!" Changeling stated hatefully as he glared daggers at Iron Mask, who was casually observing him with what looked like bored indifference.

"_Ce pas_? Tell me, is it because you love her or is it as a form of _compensation_ for a past _faible_?" he inquired innocently. Changeling gave a low growl while tensing up for an attack. Behind him, Terra felt fear growing inside her. Not just because of Iron Mask, but also because of Changeling. She had never seen him in such a feral and angry way, and it was terrifying for her.

Iron Mask charged right at Changeling, who morphed into a gorilla and smashed Iron Mask into the ground with all the strength he could muster. Hundreds of crows suddenly came flying in and covered Changeling's back, picking away at his skin with ravening hunger. Changeling roared in pain as it felt like a thousand needles were used to slowly skin his back. He morphed into a T-Rex before he roared in anger and began snapping his massive jaws at any flock of crows that got within range. He never even noticed Iron Mask reforming his body on his back, with a pair of grenades in his hands.

He pulled he pins and pressed them against Changeling's skin. When the exploded, they shredded Iron Mask's arms and tore a large flesh wound on Changeling's back. Iron Mask just laughed at his own wounds as he leapt off of Changeling, who morphed back to his human form from the pain. He collapsed to the ground as he desperately tried to reach his bleeding wound, all the while grunting in pain.

"Well, that went far easier than I could have ever _imaginé_" Iron Mask taunted as several crows melted together to form a new pair of arms for him. he was about to take a step towards Changeling when several earth spikes shot out of the ground all around him, impaling every part of his body. A few spikes tried to pierce his head, but they just shattered against his iron mask. Behind him, a panting Terra was just standing back up with her eyes still glowing yellow.

"Now that one was for me and Changeling!" she stated coldly. But she suddenly found herself assailed by the crows. She formed a dome of rock around her before launching dozens of small rocks into the air like bullets. But several crows did a kamikaze attack against the dome with Semtex, blowing it to pieces and sending Terra flying. A newly reformed Iron Mask was about to go after her when Nightwing suddenly leaped at him from nowhere. He delivered a kick straight into Iron Mask's knee with enough force to shatter it before ramming one of his shock rods into his gut, sending his body into violent spasm.

"Going somewhere?" Nightwing tauntingly asked as he shoved Iron Mask back, straight into a sonic blast from Cyborg.

"Now that felt extremely satisfying" Cyborg stated before he was forced to turn his attention back to the onslaught of crows. It gave Iron Mask enough time to stagger back to his feet and retrieve a bowie knife from his belt. He never got a chance to use it as Nightwing came and twisted his arm behind his back with enough force to break it. He forced Iron Mask to his knees while grabbing the bowie knife and pressing it against Iron Mask's throat. His breathing was ragged and his eyes were burning with anger, but he just held the knife where it was. Iron Mask suddenly began to chuckle.

"What's the matter, _garçon_? Having _trouble_ doing the _acte_? Or does this _simplement_ bring back some bad memories?" he inquired innocently before breaking into another fit of giggles. Nightwing's muscles tensed up when hearing him speak, but he still did nothing. Why he did it, not even Nightwing knew.

"You feel it, _n'est-ce pas_? The _peine_, the guilt. All festering from the knowledge that it was your _faute_" Iron Mask spoke with silky and venomous words. Nightwing's grip on the knife immediately grew tighter.

"Don't you even dare speak like that! It was all your fault!" he nearly shouted back in anger. That only prompted Iron Mask to let out a loud laugh.

"My _faute_? Tell me, who was it that chose to _ignorer_ the _signes_ that she had been spiraling out of _contrôle_? Who was it that tried to '_aider_' her by drugging and arresting her?" he turned his head as much as he could to look Nightwing in the eye before finishing "And who was it that delivered the _final_ stroke in the end?" the last part was spoken with a venomous tone, for a few moments even making it sound like there was actual anger in Iron Mask's voice. But Nightwing was never even given a chance to answer as Iron Mask detachedhis broken arm from his body and slammed his head back, straight into Nightwing's chin. He was knocked back in a disoriented state before Iron Mask swept his legs from underneath him. As Iron Mask stood back up, several crows melted together to form a new arm.

"You can't _dénier_ it, Nightwing. It was your _faute_ that Raven was lost to us all. And nothing you say or do will _changer_ that" Iron Mask said disdainfully as he began walking away. But he suddenly found his way blocked by Starfire who had a pair of starbolts powered up in her hands and aimed at Iron Mask. Her body was covered with scratches and she was breathing a little heavier than usual.

"You're not going anywhere, Iron Mask. We're taking you into custody" she stated with conviction, trying to sound and appear intimidating. It only caused Iron Mask to throw his head back in laughter.

"Take me into custody? Take me into custody?" he kept repeating in an amused tone, as if he could not believe what he just head and trying to figure out if it was a joke. His words soon lost cohesion as he broke down into another fit of laughter. Starfire meanwhile was looking thoroughly angry and humiliated.

"Did my crows manage to _pique_ out your brain or something? Just how do you plan on arresting me? In case you haven't noticed, none of your _attaques_ has any _effet_ on me whatsoever!" he explained condescendingly. Starfire could not contain herself any longer and launched her starbolts. They had been fueled with as much energy as Starfire had been able to channel and they burned right through Iron Mask's chest like fire through paper. Iron Mask did not even look the least bit troubled by the wound. The other Titans had by now recovered and surrounded Iron Mask, all of them ready to turn him into a crushed and smoldering heap of meat.

"I see that you're truly _sérieux_ about arresting me, a truly _ridicule_ idea" Iron Mask declared as his body began to slowly dissolve into crows. But just before he disappeared completely, he delivered his final words "Though don't worry, we're far from _fini_ with each other. This was merely the _début_" and just like that, his body was gone and his crows scattered in every direction, making it impossible to track him. Not that the Titans were in any shape to hunt him in the first place.

Nightwing cast one last hateful glare to the spot Iron Mask had used to occupy before striding away in anger, the Titans soon following him.


	3. Chapter 3: Ravager strikes

**Chapter 3: Ravager strikes**

Jump City

11 am

Slade had many bases and hideouts scattered all across Jump City, all meant to confuse an opponent and make it harder to track him. But he had one base that he always used, that was the closest thing he had to an actual "home". He always used this base when he was not being active and needed to lay low from authorities. Currently, both Slade and his newly appointed apprentice Ravager were present in this base. Slade's whereabouts in the base were unknown, but Ravager was currently sitting alone in front of a computer system in an otherwise dark and barren steel room.

The computer system had dozens of screens that each depicted something different; one showed security footage of a bank, another showed the national news, another one was connected to a security camera in the local prison, another one depicted Titans Tower and so on. There as even one that showed a cartoon show about a strange bird looking for his hippo. Slade had the whole Jump City network wired, no information could travel across the city without first passing through his ears.

Ravager was still dressed in the same uniform, but had removed the mask for the moment. While scanning across each and every screen, Ravager was not really paying attention to their content. In truth, she was bored as hell. Her whole body was slumped in her seat, a single hand propping up her head. After glaring at the screens for a few more minutes, Ravager gave a defeated groan while throwing her hands in the air. All this sitting around and doing nothing was torture to her! She was a girl of action, not inactivity. She of course already knew that her master was not someone who rushed things, but instead planned them out with utmost care. But still, Ravager was almost begging for something to happen to make Slade give her a mission.

Her wish seemed to have been heard by someone as she noticed something special being reported about on the national news. The audio was currently off on every screen, but Ravager did not need to hear what they were talking about to know that this was something big. What she was seeing was a bomb crater being filmed from above, no doubt from a helicopter. Body parts littered the area around the crater while medics, policemen and firemen were moving around frantically. The destruction itself was off-putting to Ravager in itself, but what really disturbed her most was that she recognized the location; Jump City town square. Her mind began spinning crazy from that. _'Who the hell could have done it? Was it Slade' _she thought in shock, but immediately shook her head to clear that thought away. He wanted to conquer the city, not destroy it. Setting off a bomb at such a place would only cause trouble for him in the long run. So if it was not Slade, then who?

Absentmindedly, she pressed a few buttons and suddenly the news broadcast was occupying every screen. With a few more buttons pushed, Ravager had turned on the audio as well and was now fully captivated to what was being said.

"… _though the exact number of deaths are still unclear, it is estimated to being well over a hundred at least"_ a young woman reported from somewhere off screen _"The assailant has managed to elude both the authorities and the Titans, but has been identified as Iron Mask, the notorious terrorist that attacked Jump City three years ago" _a picture of Iron Mask appeared on screen _"The man is wanted on charges of active terrorism as well as the murder of the Teen Titans member known as Raven" _now a picture of Raven appeared as well on screen _"No comment has been offered by either the Titans or the Justice League on how they will deal with the situation" _By that point Ravager tunes the reporter out, she had already heard the most vital.

"Interesting…" someone suddenly muses right behind her. I took all of Ravager's training and self-restraint not to yelp and jump in surprise. _'Seriously, is he trying to kill me with heart attacks?" _Ravager thought as she willed her heart to slow down, since it was beating like a rock band drummer. Turning the chair around, she found Slade standing behind her, arms crossed behind his back and a thoughtful expression on his face, at least that was what Ravager thought since that mask of his made it impossible to be certain.

"It would seem an old friend of the Titans has decided to drop by" he said in cold humor. But while he sounded amused, or as close to amused as someone like him could get, he was in reality troubled by this. Slade had already drawn up plans for this city and the Titans, having prepared himself for four years. All those years he had kept silent and hidden under the radar while secretly amassing his strength and worming his way into the bureaucracy of the city, all in preparation for his final and most decisive strike against the Titans. But Iron Mask was an unforeseen setback, an unwelcome interruption, a wildcard in his card game, a complete maniac that could cause all of Slade's carefully woven plans to come crashing down like a card house. And that was not something Slade could afford to risk.

But even with those troubling thoughts, there was something else that gave Slade pause to wonder; why was he back? Iron Mask had been gone for over three years, never once making so much as a peep during that time. Slade knew this because he liked to keep tabs on potential competitors. Now suddenly Iron Mask just pops up again, and back in Jump City no less. It just did not add up. Sure, the man was almost as insane as the Joker, but this seemed just too random even for him. No, it was not just a whim that had led Iron Mask back to Jump City, Slade could feel it in his bones. There was something else going on behind the curtains, something that drove Iron Mask to return to Jump City.

Whatever it was, Slade knew he had to deal with it. Iron Mask was just too volatile to be left to roam free. Slade would not let that madman ruin his plans. Normally he would have just had him killed and been done with it, but then comes along the question of how the hell you even killed that undead nutcase in the first place. No, Slade needed something else to get rid of him, he needed information.

"Ravager" he suddenly said in his commanding voice. Ravager was instantly on her feet, ready for whatever her master wanted of her.

"I'm sending you on a mission of utmost urgency. With the Titans still sore from the battle with Iron Mask, the mission should not prove to be too challenging. And it will also give you some field experience" he explained to her while she listened with rapt attention, doing her best to cover up her excitement. Finally something to do.

* * *

Watchtower

11.15 am

The Watchtower, satellite headquarters of the Justice League orbiting Earth. During the League's many years of existence, it had evolved from a small band of seven heroes to a global crime fighting organization with countless members from all over the globe. While normally the place would be buzzing with activity as heroes rushed either to or from the teleporter machine or the Javelin bay, it was not so today. Today the criminal network had been unusually quiet, which came as no surprise for the Justice League. Most of the major villains were locked away in prison and those that still remained at large were staying under the radar. No one truly expected anything of importance to occur on this day, but as usual fate just loved to come and prove such thoughts wrong.

"_Attention, all founding Leaguers, report to the conference room" _Batman's gruff voice spoke through the speakers. The mentioned Leaguers immediately dropped whatever they were doing and hurried to the conference room, where Batman was already waiting for them. They all took their seats around the round table before Flash, ever the impatient one, spoke up.

"Alright Bats, what's so important that I had to hang up on this lovely chick I was about to get a date with?" as usual, his comment was not even dignified with an answer. But he received plenty of annoyed glares, particularly the infamous "Bat-glare" that had Flash shrinking into his chair. With that nuisance settled, Batman pressed a button and a holographic screen was brought up, replaying the news concerning what recently went down in Jump City. The Leaguers, minus Batman, all displayed various combinations of shock, anger, worry and disgust.

"By Hera…" was all that Wonder Woman managed to say as they watched the devastation done by Iron Mask. Green Lantern scowled deeply as well.

"So that sneaky bastard has finally crawled out of hiding" he said in anger. Hawkgirl was quickly on her feet, brandishing her mace menacingly.

"Then what are we waiting? The creep's three years overdue for a real trashing!" the other Leaguers were about to join her when Batman raised a hand to stop them.

"Not so fast, Shayera. The Justice League should not get involved yet" he simply stated. None of the assembled heroes looked particularly thrilled about that idea.

"Oh come on Bruce! You aren't really planning on leaving Iron Mask to the Titans? He'll tear them apart!" Superman argued, voicing the other Leaguers concern.

"He's right. I do have respect for the skill the Titans have demonstrated in the past, but they don't stand a chance against the likes of Iron Mask" Wonder Woman added. Batman still kept up his usual stoic face.

"I'm not saying we're just going to leave this to the Titans. As it was made painfully clear three years ago, they are not ready to face that madman. When the time comes, the Justice League will bring Iron Mask down. But we have to wait" he calmly explained. Green Lantern crossed his arms irritably over his chest as he glared at Batman.

"And what exactly are we supposed to wait for?" he asked harshly.

"His return after three years of absence feels too suspicious to me. I'm having a hard time picturing that his return is just pure chance. I'm certain that something else is going on" Batman revealed. But not every Leaguer was convinced.

"You sure you're not overly paranoid here?" Flash asked, receiving yet another Bat-glare. But Flash was not the only one to voice his thought on the matter.

"So? If there really is something else going on, J'onn could read Iron Mask's mind or Diana could just use her lasso on him" Hawkgirl countered. Batman did not as much as budge.

"If the Justice League were to come after Iron Mask in full force, he could just disappear again. I'm suggesting that we send in someone else in our stead. Someone of lesser known status and who could track down Iron Mask discreetly" he stated calmly.

"I take it you have already chosen someone for the task" J'onn suddenly spoke up for the first time. Batman nodded his head.

* * *

Titans Tower

11.25 am

The mood among the team was hardly the best it could be at the moment. Anger was freely coursing through the Titans as their thoughts would constantly return to Iron Mask. That anger would always turn inward over the fact that he had gotten away from them… again.

The whole team was scattered across the tower, coping with the defeat and the reopened wounds in their own ways. Cyborg was in the garage, working on Nightwing's motorcycle. He did this in the hopes that it would make him forget about Iron Mask, if only for a moment. But it proved hard as several times, images of that despicable man would appear in his minds, followed closely by anger and hatred. He had already been close to squashing the engine in anger.

Changeling had locked himself in the toilet. After the adrenaline had worn off and his wounds had been tended to, he had become aware of the fact that he actually had Iron Mask's blood stained all over his uniform, not to mention the taste of his flesh in his mouth. He had been throwing up ever since while desperately cleaning himself over and over, even though all of the blood had been washed away and he had switched to a new uniform.

Terra was in her room, brooding to herself. She had wanted to be in the comforting embrace of Changeling, but she had seen the panic-filled expression on his face when he became self-aware of the blood covering him. Terra knew that he may be even more emotionally scarred than her and felt that he needed some time alone, at least until he came out from the toilet by himself. But left alone, Terra's mind could not stop itself from wandering back to what Iron Mask had said to her. Could it be true? Was there something that her friends kept hidden about Raven? Terra tried to quell these question, they originated from a madman after all. She could not trust Iron Mask, she _would _not trust him. She would not make the same mistake she did with Slade.

Starfire was also in her room, lying on her bed and staring at the ceiling. She felt great worry for her friends. They were all pretty depressed after facing Iron Mask, and losing to him. Though the question if they had truly lost was still up for debate, considering that he had fled before the battle had been properly finished. Starfire too felt her spirit being sunken after the battle. During the three years since they last faced him in battle, she had both prayed for a chance to bring him down once and for all while silently dreading ever meeting him again. Now that he was back, Starfire was beginning to think that maybe there was some small truth in the expression "be careful what you wish for, you might just get it".

Out of all the Titans, Nightwing was the only one who devoted his time to actually looking for Iron Mask. In a way, this was probably his way of dealing with the depression; seated in front of the main computer, a cup of coffee in his hand and going through all the information he could dig up that might lead to Iron Mask. He had been seated there for hours, going through every possible lead he could think of. So far, he had had no luck. While he remained calm on the outside, he was in truth boiling over with rage whenever he thought of that murderous psychopath. _'This day couldn't become worse that this' _he thought grimly. But as always, fate felt like proving him wrong as the massive screen in front of him lit up and the image of the last man Nightwing wanted to talk to on God's green Earth appeared.

"Batman" Nightwing grumbled out with eyes narrowed in suspicion and irritation. Batman looked as stoic as ever, appearing unaffected by Nightwing's icy greeting.

"_Nightwing" _was Batman's curt reply, betraying no emotions whatsoever. Nightwing had to struggle to suppress a scowl, he and Batman were hardly on friendly terms. They had not been on friendly terms for several years now. Folding his arms over his chest, Nightwing glared at his former mentor in hostility.

"What do you want?" he simply asked. Nightwing just wanted to get this conversation over as quickly as possible and go back to his search for Iron Mask.

"_I hear you're having trouble with an old enemy" _Batman replied monotonously. Nightwing was instantly on high alert. There was only one reason that Nightwing could think of that Batman could have if he contacted him about it.

"And what's it to you? It's not like the Titans and the Justice League really cares what happens to the other" Nightwing inquired icily.

"_Your team got defeated by this man alone. It proves that you're not skilled enough to take down the likes of him alone, and that the Justice League will have to step in and help"_ Batman stated. Nightwing stared at him as if he had just said that he was planning on dropping a nuclear bomb on top of Titans Tower. But his shocked expression soon morphed into one of anger.

"We don't need your help here! We're doing just fine on our own!" he snarled at Batman. If Batman was affected by the response in any way, he did an astounding work of not showing it.

"_I beg to differ. Iron Mask is too great a threat to be left to you alone. The Justice League will step in and stop him. We would greatly appreciate if the Titans would cooperate with us on this one" _Batman said. Though he made it sound like he wanted cooperation, Nightwing was not so easily fooled by it. He knew Batman all too well and could easily deduce the true meaning behind his words; Batman wanted the Titans to answer to the Justice League on this. It took all of Nightwing's willpower not to shout back a response to Batman. This was the very reason that he had left Batman's side, he expected everything to be done on his conditions alone. Well, two could play the same game.

"What exactly did you have in mind?" Nightwing asked, making it sound like he had given in.

"_The Justice League is at the moment spread too thin to initiate a full scale manhunt after Iron Mask, and there's the risk that he might just disappear if we were to appear in full force anyway. So we'll be sending in a lone leaguer to track Iron Mask down. Once he's found, we'll move in with full force" _Batman explained. Nightwing furrowed his eyebrows in skepticism. One leaguer against Iron Mask, the odds sounded quite bad. Not even Doctor Fate could beat this guy on his own.

"Sending one League member to fight the likes of Iron Mask? Either you're overestimating this guy or you're underestimating Iron Mask. Neither option sounds like something you would do" Nightwing speculated suspiciously.

"_He will not be fighting Iron Mask. His expertise has always been investigation and tracking. But I'm hopeful that with your team already on sight, he won't have to get directly involved in any fights" _Batman elaborated. Now it was all clear to Nightwing, Batman only wanted to use his team as bodyguards for this guy. No doubt he was also planning on keeping the Titans out of most of the investigation. Nightwing felt like punching his former mentor right between the eyes right about now, but reined his anger in.

"Are you sure that this guy's good enough to track down Iron Mask, given his unique abilities and erratic behavior?" Nightwing inquired. He wanted to know as much about this new player as he could.

"_Trust me, he'll get the job done"_ Batman answered. Internally, Nightwing sighed in irritation. He basically got no useful information from that. _'How typical of the Batman to keep others out of the loop'_ he thought with bitter humor.

"I hope you're right about that" Nightwing said grimly. For several minutes after that, the two of them kept up a staring down contest. The tension that built up between master and student grew so thick that a chainsaw would have a hard time cutting through it.

"When will I be expecting this guy?" Nightwing finally asked, growing tired of both seeing and hearing Batman.

"_He'll be arriving within the hour" _Batman answered. Nightwing just nodded before terminating the link, not even bothering with a simple goodbye. He picked up his cup of coffee with one hand while massaging his temple with the other. He took a sip of the coffee but immediately spit it out again, it had grown cold. Cursing under his breath, Nightwing made his way towards the kitchen to fix a new cup of coffee for himself.

"Why must these kinds of things always happen when they're least wanted?" he grumbled out in frustration. Dumping the cold coffee in the sink, he began brewing more. He seriously needed his coffee right now.

* * *

Jump City sewers

11.20 am

"Out of all the places you could have chosen as a rendezvous point, why in all the nine levels of Hell did you pick the undoubtedly most disgusting one there is?!" Gustaf barked out in irritation as he tried to wipe some kind of green looking gunk off his metal boots while leaning against the wall. Ahead of him, Zacharious sighed for the umpteenth time.

"Like I've told you before; the sewers are without a doubt the most isolated parts of the city. No one will bother to ever come down here, unless it's for maintenance or desperation drives them" he explained exasperatedly. Gustaf may have been the strongest Templar there is, but his constant nagging was driving Zacharious mad.

"Well, couldn't you just have picked some abandoned warehouse, or a docked ship, or a run-down alley, or why not even the same bloody clearing we arrived in?" Gustaf kept on complaining undaunted as he accepted that whatever green gunk he had stepped in would not yield to his wishes of having it removed and resumed walking. Zacharious gave an audible growl.

"And while I'm at it voicing my complaints, why didn't you give me a special assignment? All the others got one, but I got stuck following you around like a glorified bodyguard!" he continued relentlessly. _'Honestly, is he trying to make me lose my calm' _Zacharious thought bitterly while wishing that he had something to shove down Gustaf's throat.

"You might as well stop your complaining now, we've arrived at the rendezvous point" he called over his shoulder as they both stepped into a sewer crossroad. Both looked around in expectancy, but they saw no one else around.

"Okay, where the hell are the others?" Gustaf gruffly asked. Zacharious cast another confused glance across the room before answering.

"Strange, I had expected at least the twins to be done with their tasks" he remarked as he lifted up the visor on his helmet. Suddenly, Gustaf gave an audible yelp as he comically slipped on something concealed in the water and splashed into it. He soon emerged again, spitting out water and swearing like there was no tomorrow. His helmet had also fallen off in the fall. From one of the sewer lines, a pair of familiar laughs echoed as two figures dressed in sewer working clothes complete with worker helmets stepped out from the shadows and walked towards them.

"I told you he would fall for it, quite literally!" the left twin said between laughter while gripping his twin's shoulder.

"That you did, dear brother, that you did!" the other twin responded. Unfortunately, not everyone saw the humor in it.

"Why you little weasel mouthed, God forsaken, retarded, brain twisted, snake tongued, Hell spawned, cuckoo minded, prank loving sons of bitches!" Gustaf roared as he staggered back up, face redder than a tomato and steam nearly blowing from his ears. The two twins soon realized the peril they had placed themselves in and began to slowly back away while smiling sheepishly.

"Now, now Gustaf…" the left one said while holding up his hands in a peaceful gesture

"… No need to overreact like that…" the right one resumed while mirroring his twin's action.

"… It was just a harmless little prank to lighten the mood" the left one finished. But Gustaf was having none of it as he began to advance on them menacingly, his pig-like eyes ablaze with fury. But his path was soon blocked by Zacharious' claymore, the flat side held like a barrier between Gustaf and the twins.

"That's enough. I will have no infighting amongst this team" Zacharious calmly stated. Gustaf glared at Zacharious with a hateful look but nevertheless relented. The twins both snickered at that, but quickly shut their mouths when Zacharious turned his attention to them.

"And as for you two. Pull another stunt like that again, and I'm sending you both packing back to the council with a demotion" he warned them. The way they nodded their heads rapidly indicated they had taken the warning to heart. Light splashing sounds from behind indicated that someone else had arrived and when the gathered people turned to look, they found Valdemar trudging towards them. His helmet was tucked underneath his arm and his pole axe was strapped to his back. Noticing the tense atmosphere, he raised his left eyebrow in curiosity.

"Did I miss something?" he asked. No one answered that question, so Valdemar just shrugged his shoulders and strode up to stand next to Zacharious.

"Any sign of Celestine?" he asked, causing Zacharious to shake his head. Both twins suddenly yelped in fright and a pair of splashing sounds indicated that they had lost their balance in the process. When the others turned to look what the commotion was about, they found Celestine standing where the twins used to stand while the twins themselves were lying in the water with wide eyes and rapid breaths. It seemed like Celestine had snuck right up on the unsuspecting twins and scared the hell out of them, causing them to fall over in shock.

"Jesus Christ, Celestine…" the right one said as he tried to stand up again.

"… You nearly gave us a heart attack there!" the left one finished just as he got back up on his feet while clutching his chest. A loud bellowing laugh quickly followed the twins' words.

"Not so funny when it happens to yourselves, is it?" Gustaf asked as he tried to quell his own laughter, with minimal success. Zacharious just sighed while holding his face with his hand. _'Lord, please give me strength in my hour of need' _he thought in despair. But he quickly buried his morbid thoughts and steeled his face to appear calm and collected.

"Alright, now that we're all here and you've completed your assignments, I suppose it's time to inform you of our task at hand here" Zacharious announced with a strong voice. All attention was upon him in an instant and the team gathered around him to listen.

"Two years ago, a being of pure darkness and evil emerged in this world. What it was and where it came from, no one knew" Zacharious began, making eye contact with each of them in turn "But it was clear beyond any doubt that this creature could not be allowed to roam this world any further" he continued. Gustaf suddenly stepped forward.

"Yes, yes. We have all heard the tale about the menace known as the Heartless and the manhunt that lasted for a full year and cost countless of our most senior brothers. We have also heard of how he was finally cornered in Transylvania and slain, so what does it have to do with our mission?!" he barked out irritably. Zacharious locked his gaze with Gustaf and stared him down until he finally averted his own gaze and took a few steps back.

"Because I'm here to tell you that it was a lie" Zacharious stated, earning a collection of wide eyes and gasps.

"What?" one of the twins managed to press out of his throat, too shocked to say anything else. Zacharious took that as his cue to continue with the explanation.

"While it was true that the Heartless was cornered in Transylvania, he was not however slain. For three days did the Templars battle the infernal creature and although many fatal blows were struck, the creature refused to yield" Zacharious suddenly paused to give a tired sigh "And just as it seemed that they would finally slay him, the Heartless gathered all of his unholy power and unleashed it in a cataclysmic explosion, devastating the land. When the dust had settled, the Heartless was long gone" another heavy sigh forced its way past Zacharious' lips. Taking a few moments to collect himself, he soon continued with the explanation.

"Many thought that he had perished that day, but the Council always knew that the monster had somehow survived. But it seemed that the battle had done considerable damage to him, because he just disappeared, no doubt slinking back into whatever dark pit he could find to nurture his wounds and rebuild his strength" the whole team was staring at him with wide eyes and shocked expressions on their faces, apart from Celestine who had her whole face covered. This was truly troubling news they were hearing.

"But if they knew that the monster survived, why did they keep it secret and said that he was dead?" one of the twins asked, the other twin nodding his head in consent. Zacharious took a deep breath, having already anticipated the question, before answering.

"Because there was no way to track the Heartless anymore. And even in his weakened state, he was still a foe to be reckoned with. The Council did not want some glory-hungry Templar throw his life away by going on a foolish quest to slay the creature, so they covered up the fact he was still alive. They planned on waiting for the Heartless to reveal himself before striking again" he explained as calmly as possible. A few moments of silence followed as the team processed the information they had just received. But Gustaf suddenly gave a huff of annoyance.

"So? What does that have to do with this mission?" he asked irritably. His question caused the whole team to look at him with blank expressions. _'Shouldn't it be obvious, you bonehead?' _was the unanimous thought going through their heads. Nevertheless, Zacharious decided to humor the big brute.

"It has everything to do with this mission. The Heartless has finally, after a full year of absence, revealed himself yet again. And each and every one of you…" his gaze met each of his team members in turn "… has been chosen for your superb skills, skills that will be pushed to their utmost limit in the coming weeks. For our mission is to track down the Heartless" he brought his hand to his face and tightened it into a fist "And we will be the ones to put an end to his reign of terror once and for all" the twins began to grin excitedly at that, while a battle-hungry gleam entered Gustaf's eyes.

"Do we know exactly where he is?" Valdemar asked, his face stoic and unreadable. Ever the professional. Zacharious turned his gaze to Valdemar as he answered.

"He is here, in this very city" he threw his arms out wide for emphasis "Stalking its streets, walking among its inhabitants and living in its shadows" he then lowered his arms and directed his gaze to the whole team "Now with our mission objective made clear, I hope you've all completed the tasks handed out to you" the team instantly straightened up as they waited to see who would be the one to report first. Zacharious' eyes soon fell upon Celestine.

"Did you discover any useful information regarding violent occurrences?" he asked. His eyes were soon locked onto by Celestine's cold blue ones.

"Several unsolved murders have occurred this week and a bomb was detonated at the townhall" she replied with a cold voice. Zacharious nodded his head while stroking his chin.

"We can probably rule out the bomb being caused by the Heartless, he never liked to make such flashy moves. But the murders could well be his work" his gaze next fell upon Valdemar "What about the defenders of this city, what kind of strength do they possess?"

"There are the usual law enforcement units that every city has, but they are used to only taking down small time criminals and normal humans. They would stand no chance against someone like the Heartless" Valdemar explained before pausing in contemplation "There is however a separate crime fighting force in this city. A team of Meta humans called the Titans. They seem to have more experience in dealing with supernatural threats than the police" Zacharious nodded his head in thought.

"Can they be trusted?" he asked. Valdemar just shrugged his shoulder before replying.

"Unknown, they work independently and have no ties to any authorities" was the answer.

"Very well, we will then only make contact with them if the situation calls for it" Zacharious decided. Next his eyes fell upon the twins "What about you two? Did you get what I asked?" he suddenly paused, looking like he just became aware of their attire "And on the same note, where did you get those clothes? And where are your equipment?" at this, the twins grinned mischievously at him, giving him an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Oh don't you worry…" the left one began cheerfully.

"… We got our end covered" the right one finished just a cheerfully.

"As for these clothes…" the left one began yet again while gesturing at the clothes he wore.

"… We sort of borrowed them…" the right one picked up.

"… From a company specializing in…" the left one resumed.

"… Repair and maintenance in this city" the right one finished. Zacharious was beginning to develop a rally bad headache from the twins annoying way of talking. He could see that Gustaf was equally affected.

"And concerning our equipment…" the right one began, still sounding as cheerful as one could get.

"… We left it back at…" the left one resumed.

"… Our new secret headquarters" they both finished together. Zacharious just nodded his head.

"Then lead the way. We got much work to do, and little time to do it in" he stated. The twins quickly nodded their heads in consent and motioned with their hands for the other Templars to follow them as they walked down a sewer tunnel. The others were soon lined up and following the twins. But suddenly Celestine, who made up the rear, stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as her gaze traveled all across the sewer crossroad they were just leaving. She could have sworn she detected something moving in the shadows. But all she now saw were shadows and walls.

Normally she would dismiss it, but it was more than that. Celestine could not explain it, but she had the uncomfortable feeling that something was watching them. Her right hand began to unconsciously creep towards the knife sheathed in her belt. Her body tensed up, making ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.

"Hey, you coming Celestine?!" one of the twins suddenly shouted. Turning her head around, Celestine found that the whole team was way ahead of her and were staring at her. Casting one last wary glance over her shoulder, she sprinted to catch up with them.

Had she looked closer at the shadows, she would have seen that they were not as empty as one would think. The moment she left, a crow flew out from its hiding spot, its sharp eyes staring intently at the passage they went into. It let out a craw as it took to the air and disappeared in the opposite direction.

* * *

Titans Tower

11.40 am

It had been fifteen minutes since Nightwing's "chat" with Batman, and his mood had not improved the slightest. He kept going through every possible candidate that Batman could send, but always coming up empty-handed. God what he wished right now that something would happen so he could forget the whole ordeal, if only for a little while. His wish was soon fulfilled when the alarm started blaring at full force. It did not take long for the other Titans to come rushing in, years of drilling and crime-fighting having quickly overridden their sour mood. Though Changeling looked a little greener and moved a little slower than usual.

"So what's the trouble?" Cyborg asked. A map was soon brought up with a red dot blinking on it.

"Someone's robbing a bank. Security cameras have been shut down, but all the other systems are still operational" Nightwing explained. He was however confused, the attacker had somehow gained access to the security system but they only shut off the cameras. That just did not make any sense.

"Well what are we waiting for? I'm in serious need to vent some frustration on these scumbags" Cyborg stated angrily while cracking his knuckles.

"Hold it. We should not all go. Me and Changeling will stay here" Nightwing suddenly said, gaining shocked and confused stares from his team.

"Nightwing, are you sure that is wise?" Starfire asked in concern. Nightwing nodded his head.

"Yes. Changeling was the one who was most wounded in the battle" he explained while giving Changeling a pointed look, referring to more than physical wounds "And I need to prepare for the arrival of a guest from the Justice League" the last part was spoken with heavy venom in his tone. This confused the team even more than before.

"Uhh… why would the Justice League send someone here?" Changeling asked. Nightwing's face immediately darkened from that question.

"We'll discuss that later. Right now we need to deal with this problem" he said. Cyborg quickly left to prepare the T-car, but Terra and Starfire were a little slower for personal reason.

"You be careful out there, alright?" Changeling told Terra as he held her hands in his. She in turn smiled at him while playfully rolling her eyes.

"Hey, it's only a few bank robbers. What could possibly go wrong?" she asked. Changeling immediately adopted a fake shocked expression.

"Don't say that! Now I know something will go wrong!" he said in an exaggeratedly panicked voice. Terra just giggled at his antics before leaning forward to give a light kiss on his lips. Starfire had meanwhile flown over to Nightwing.

"Be on your guard out there. I know you can handle the robbers, but I'm worried that Iron Mask might show up" Nightwing explained to her. Starfire nodded her head before the two of them joined in a deep kiss. Starfire reluctantly pulled away from Nightwing and began moving towards the door, picking up Terra along the way. But at the threshold she stopped and turned around to flash a cocky smirk.

"You need not worry, Nightwing. If anyone is foolish enough to face us, we will easily show them the error of their way" she said. With that, the two girls quickly left to catch up with Cyborg, leaving Nightwing and Changeling alone in the living room. After a few moments of silence, Changeling turned towards Nightwing with a concerned frown on his face.

"Are you sure they can handle this alone?" he asked. Nightwing met his inquisitive stare with a calm and collected one before responding.

"I have absolute faith that they can deal with the robbers" he assured him. Changeling did not look very much convinced.

"I was not referring to the robbers. Iron Mask is still on the loose out there, doing God knows what" Changeling stated, his voice and posture developing anger in them at the mention of Iron Mask. Nightwing did not so much as flinch.

"Even if he's still loose, we cannot let that madman scare us and dictate our very lives with his mere presence. We still have a duty to defend this city" Nightwing answered. Hearing those words seemed to disarm Changeling's anger as his shoulders slumped and he let out a defeated sigh.

"I just don't want to lose another friend to that madman" he said with a sad and bitter voice before turning around and walking out of the living room. Nightwing's expression softened as he watched Changeling's retreating back until the doors closed and blocked his view. With a heavy sigh he turned back to the screen and brought up an image of Iron Mask along with all information he had on him. Seeing that despicable face, even if only as a computer image, brought up a deep hatred and loathing for him as Nightwing's face contorted into a mask of rage.

"Trust me Changeling, you're not the only one" he said to no one in particular as he stared with absolute hatred at the image.

* * *

Jump City bay

11.50 am

On the surface, all was calm. No boats traversed the waters, no fishers tried their luck for the day and no swimmers felt like cooling themselves off. Beneath the waves there was more activity, with small shoals of fishes swimming this way and that. But there was one other thing beneath the sea, a small manta-shaped DPV manned by a single diver holding on to its top.

The diver quietly drifted through the water, disturbing a few fishes along the way. After a few minutes, the diver began to approach a landmass and shut off the DPV's motor. Pressing a button on the DPV's control board suddenly brought up a holographic image of the small island the diver had reached and his target that was seated on the island; Titans Tower.

The diver quickly abandoned the DPV and swam the rest of the way to shore. As he reached the surface, the diver carefully poked his head above the waterline to make sure no one was in the immediate vicinity. Satisfied that no one was nearby, the diver slowly walked up to shore. Once he was ashore, the diver quickly hid behind a group of rocks and began removing his diving equipment

The first thing that became obvious about the diver when his face became visible was that he was in fact a she. The second was that she was Alice Waterstone, or rather Ravager. With the diver suit removed, she was once again dressed in the skin tight bodysuit. She quickly picked up a watertight pack and opened it to bring out her utility belt, a pair of black combat boots and a wrist mounted controller. Quickly donning these items, she reached into the pack again and pulled out a final item; the cloth mask she had been given by Slade. She looked upon this simple mask with a deep sense of reverence, remembering the pledge of loyalty it symbolized for her.

"I will not fail you" Ravager whispered with conviction before putting the mask on. She quickly looked over the rocks she was hiding behind before flipping right over them. She was about to walk up to the tower when a sudden thought struck her. Reaching into a compartment in her utility belt, she pulled out a small binocular. When she looked through it she saw nothing unusual, but with a flick of a switch the binoculars changed to infrared, exposing the infrared beams that crisscrossed the beach.

Ravager gave an unimpressed 'hmph' as she easily memorized the beam grid before putting the binocular away. Then she was off at a light sprint. Picturing the positions of the beams in her mind, Ravager began to jump and flip between boulders and beam-free zones. Relying on nothing but her memory, she skillfully avoided every single beam without so much as breaking a sweat. Finally she performed a final backflip and landed outside of the grid zone.

"You'd think a former apprentice of Slade would have installed better security" she muttered sarcastically as she strode up to the tower. She did not even try to enter through the door, too risky. Instead she brought out a hand-held grappling gun and fired it at the fifteenth floor. Taking a single moment to listen in case an alarm had gone off, Ravager began to scale the tower, her five senses on the highest possible alert the whole time. Reaching the fifteenth floor, she made sure that there was no one else inside the room she was outside and brought out a glass cutter.

She attached the device with utmost delicacy to the window before slowly cutting out a hole about a foot in diameter. She pulled out the cut out piece before reaching inside and unlocking the window. As she silently slipped inside, she felt no fear or worry, only a sense of excitement. She was alone in enemy territory now, with nothing but her own strength and ingenuity to rely on. And for some reason it made her feel truly alive.

Ravager quickly exited the room and continued to silently creep through the hallways. A security camera made her halt for a moment, but instead of getting worried she just smiled underneath her mask and pressed a button on her utility belt. Her whole body instantly vanished as the specially installed cloaking device activated. It was not perfect though, if you stood close enough you could make out the hazy outline of Ravager and any sudden movements would cause the cloaking system to fail. So with that in mind, Ravager proceeded down the hallway at a calm pace. Once passed the cameras, she deactivated the cloaking system to save battery and kept walking.

She finally located a stairwell and quickly rushed up it. Stopping on the next floor, she took a moment to get her bearings. She was currently on floor sixteen, that meant that her target was one floor above her. Her target was very close now, but Ravager was on constant alert, this was going far too smoothly for her taste. None of the security systems had been a real challenge to her and there was still no sign of the Titans themselves. Admittedly, this was a very large building, but she had expected to find at least some sign that there was someone here.

"Where have you all gone?" she quietly asked herself. Receiving no answer to her question, not that she expected one in the first place, she kept creeping up the stairwell. When reaching the next floor, she once again made sure there was no one nearby while her earlier excitement was dulling away to be replaced by a deeper sense of unease. This truly was going far too smoothly than she had expected, and Ravager refused to accept that she had simply overestimated the Titans. But there was nothing else to do than to push onward. Uneasiness or not, Ravager could not return to Slade empty-handed. She quickly moved down the hallway until she finally reached her target; a metal door with the label "Titan mainframe" stamped on it.

Ravager did not bother to try to open it directly, knowing already that it was locked. Instead she approached the control panel next to it. She gave it a quick once-over before pulling out a cord from her controller and inserted it into the panel. The inbuilt security hacker immediately went to work on unlocking the door. It took a few minutes, but eventually the door opened with a "swish". Already feeling confident that no one would be inside, Ravager disconnected the cord and strode inside, the door closing behind her.

Inside she found a large room, its walls covered by blue computer screens of varying sizes. On the left wall was a single large keyboard and control panel placed in front of a massive computer screen. Ravager quickly strode over to it and pressed the activation button. A message soon flashed on the screen, reading "password required". Beneath her mask, Ravager could not stop a cocky smirk from splitting her face.

"Password, huh? No problemo" she said before stretching her fingers. She pulled out the cord yet again and inserted it into the mainframe. On the screen, the system hacker's work could be viewed as it went through every possible password with the rate of a thousand passwords per second. Finally the message "password accepted" flashed across the screen and the whole system was thereby open to Ravager. She immediately pressed a button on her controller and the second part of its construction activated. On the screen, the message "downloading" appeared with a bar underneath showing the progress. Now all Ravager had to do was wait.

* * *

Meanwhile

Nightwing was quickly becoming frustrated with his work. No matter how much he searched, there was just no information that he could use. Iron Mask had been quiet for three years, never once revealing himself to anyone. There was absolutely no documented information that could be a clue as to why he has revealed himself again and why he was back in Jump City. It was becoming clear to Nightwing that if he wanted answers he would have to search for them out in the city, root around among the scum of Jump City until he found someone willing to talk.

Just the thought made Nightwing wish that he could just go and beat the answer directly out of Iron Mask. Giving a frustrated groan, Nightwing buried his face in his hands while slumping into his chair. A beeping sound from the computer suddenly drew his attention as he looked up in surprise. It was just a note but it still surprised Nightwing, someone was using the Titan mainframe to access information.

An uneasy feeling settled in Nightwing. He and Changeling were the only ones in the tower, and he was certain that Changeling would not go and mess with the mainframe. He swiftly rose from his chair and strode towards the door. He was not sure what was going on, but he was sure as hell going to get to the bottom of it.

* * *

Back to Ravager

Finally, after what felt like hours to Ravager, the download was completed. Ravager quickly disconnected from the mainframe and shut it off. Now all that was left for her was to get out of the tower and report back to Slade. But things are never that easy, and Ravager received an unpleasant reminder of that fact when she opened the door out of the room only to come face to face with Nightwing. Ravager stared at Nightwing in shock, not having expected to run into him like this. And judging from his wide eyes, Nightwing was equally as surprised. For several awkward moments, the two of them stared at each other in mute shock.

Ravager was the first one to react by throwing a punch at Nightwing's face, which he easily ducked underneath and countered with a punch of his own, aimed at Ravager's guts. She jumped back inside the room to avoid the attack and Nightwing quickly followed after her. He swung a kick at her right side, but she bent backwards and the kick past over her. As soon as Ravager's hands made contact with the floor, she swung both her legs upwards, aiming to hit Nightwing in the head. He narrowly dodged them but managed to throw a birdarang at Ravager, who was just flipping back onto her feet.

The birdarang managed to knick her on her left arm, but she ignored it and charged at Nightwing. She threw a punch at him, which he deflected easily, but Ravager immediately followed up with a sweep of her right leg aimed at his legs. Nightwing jumped over it and came down towards Ravager with his elbow aimed at her head. She sidestepped the attack but quickly stepped back in, trying to slam both her fists into both sides of his head.

Nightwing blocked the strikes and rammed his head forward and managed to head-butt Ravager. She reeled back from the blow and Nightwing came at her faster. But a sudden punch caught him off guard and nailed him in the chest, followed by a second one and a third blow to his stomach. Nightwing nearly doubled over from the blows but managed to thrust his own fist forward, nailing Ravager in the leg and causing her to stumble.

He tried a second punch, but Ravager quickly jumped back to avoid it. But she was soon on the offensive again as she rushed forward with both fists poised to deliver a low blow to Nightwing's guts. But he managed to catch both fists in his much stronger grip. The two combatants at that point made eye contact with each other, strength and determination shining in both pair of eyes.

"Who are you?" Nightwing asked in anger. He did not know who this mysterious intruder was, but the two-toned mask and the "S" emblem on her chest was a dead giveaway of who she was affiliated with. Needless to say, it angered Nightwing greatly to learn that his most hated adversary was back in town, and with a new pawn to boot.

"If I wanted you to know, would I be wearing a mask?" Ravager taunted as she kicked Nightwing back. As she put some distance between herself and Nightwing, she could not help but feel a tingle of excitement run up her spine. Here she was, going toe to toe with Nightwing himself, and her competitive side was screaming at her to wipe the floor with Nightwing.

"But since you asked so nicely, I suppose I can answer that question. I am Ravager, Slade's apprentice" she introduced herself while giving a lavish bow. Nightwing took that moment to rush at her, hoping to catch her off guard. What he had not suspected was that Ravager had discreetly removed a handful of pellets from her utility belt while bowing to him, and as he came at her she threw them to the ground where they exploded in a blinding light, temporarily blinding Nightwing.

That was all the time Ravager needed as she delivered a roundhouse kick to Nightwing's side. He quickly went down and Ravager brought up her foot and aimed to smash her heel straight into Nightwing's chest. But he managed to catch it with his hands. Left temporarily shocked by it, Ravager was not fast enough to withdraw her foot before Nightwing dragged her forward and threw her right over him.

Ravager managed to land on her hands and feet, but Nightwing had already gotten up and before Ravager could act he had delivered a punch into her back. She bit back a cry of pain and spun around to meet him, only to face a punch heading for her head, she managed to dodge and tried to back away from Nightwing, but he relentlessly pushed on, delivering kicks and punches all the way. Ravager found no room to attack back as she was forced to dodge, block and counter the barrage of blows raining down on her.

Nightwing threw another punch at Ravager, but this time she did a backflip and managed to kick Nightwing in the chin. The moment she land back on her feet, she charged at Nightwing, who was reeling from the previous blow. She kicked and punched at him in rapid succession, forcing him back towards the door.

"What's the matter, Nightwing? Can't take on a little girl like me?" Ravager taunted him as she continued to push him back "And you're supposed to be Slade's first apprentice? You truly bring shame to the man" that last part caused something to snap in Nightwing and as Ravager tried another roundhouse kick, Nightwing managed to grab hold of it under his arm. Ravager stared wide eyed as she tried to tug her leg free, but Nightwing's iron grip refused to yield.

"I'll bring him more than just shame once I get my hands on him!" he shouted as he slammed Ravager into the wall next to him before rushing her like an angered bull. She sidestepped him just in time and tried to slam her elbow into him, but he caught it and pushed her back. Ravager momentarily staggered from the unexpected push but managed to regain her balance just in time to dodge a punch from Nightwing. She quickly retaliated with a punch of her own, which also was dodged. Both of them continued to throw kicks and punches at each other, but neither scored a decisive hit. They kept up this dance of grueling dance of punching, dodging, kicking, blocking and countering for several minutes.

Suddenly, a punch managed to slip past Ravager's defenses and hit her right in the head. For a few precious seconds, the world refused to stay still in Ravager's vision while a jarring pain shot through her head. Nightwing took that chance to kick Ravager straight in the gut, causing her to double over in pain.

"Give up now?" Nightwing cockily asked as he stood over the kneeling Ravager. He did not however see the grin that split her face underneath the mask and before he knew what was happening, Ravager drove a fist straight into his manhood. Nightwing managed to bit back the girlish scream that would have torn its way past his lips, but he could not contain a painful whimper.

Ravager meanwhile was smiling proudly at her work. Sure, it was a low blow, quite literally in this case, but then there was the old saying "the end justifies the means". But she had no more time to gloat, the blow may have put Nightwing out of commission for a little while, but Ravager had no way of knowing if reinforcements would arrive soon. So she quickly flipped right over Nightwing and sprinted out of the room.

* * *

Meanwhile

A single jet was travelling through the skies above Jump City, its design showing that it was a Justice League Javelin. It streaked through the skies, passing the city entirely. Its destination was soon however made clear as it angled it path towards a specific building; Titans Tower.

* * *

Back inside the tower

She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, never once bothering to look back to see if she was actually followed. Ravager knew that she could not slow down, not if she wanted to escape. Her cover had been blown, the Titans knew she was here and would no doubt come down on her like an avalanche any minute now. Now that she thought about it, why did she even waste time fighting Nightwing when she should have hightailed it out of there the moment she saw him?

The answer was however painfully obvious to her; because she had wanted to fight him. she had wanted it for months now, to see what was so special about him that made him Slade's first choice as an apprentice, and then to beat him to prove that she was a better candidate. But she had no more time to brood on that at the moment, right now she needed to focus on getting the hell out of there.

Quickly locating a staircase, she bolted up its steps without a second thought. Her best chance of escape right now was by the roof, she could there use her grappling line to get down to ground level and once she got back in the water, she would be safe. But she needed to be fast, already she could hear that someone was gaining on her. Nightwing no doubt, the guy never knew when to quit.

It did not take very long for Ravager to reach the roof, but rather than try to open the door leading out, she threw an explosive disc at it. As the door was turned to a smoking and burning wreck, she did not even pause to let the smoke clear, but instead leapt right through it. Ravager had from there expected an easy escape route, but what she found made her come to a sudden halt. Parked on the roof of Titans Tower, was a Justice League Javelin. But what really caught her attention was the man standing in front of it.

The man must have obviously been a member of the Justice League, but Ravager could not recall this particular fellow. Blue trench coat, blue business suit underneath, a fedora hat and a face that lacked eyes, nose and mouth; yep, definitely not someone Ravager had ever heard of. Although he did not look very tough, Ravager had to admit that that blank skin that served as his face was a little bit unnerving.

"I assume by your hasty exit that you're not a Titan and that your visit here was not particularly appreciated" the mysterious man stated in a calm voice, sounding like he had expected this to happen long before it did. He folded his arms over his chest but made no aggressive moves towards her, looking to be completely at ease with the whole situation. Nevertheless, a lesson that Slade had spent countless hours beating into Ravager, both figuratively and literally, was that one should never ever underestimate an opponent.

"That doesn't really concern you, but I'm going to have to ask you to step aside and let me pass. If you don't, I'll have no choice but to move you myself" Ravager said in a calm and civil tone while adopting a fighting stance. Internally, Ravager was worried. She could faintly hear someone rapidly climbing the staircase, and she had no idea how skilled this man was. But the truth was that it did not really matter how skillful he was, he would just need to delay her for a few moments until reinforcements arrived. And judging from his overly relaxed posture, it was obvious to Ravager that he knew that as well.

"Why don't you come and try?" the man finally said. Ravager gave herself no time to think it through, she had run out of time anyway, and leaped at the man. But just as she was about to reach him, she noticed something at the edge of her vision, and leaped back just in time to dodge the trio of crossbow bolts that would have punched right through her head. Internally, Ravager was cursing at her foolishness, she had been so caught up in finding an escape route that she had not even thought about checking if the mysterious man was alone.

Turning to where the bolts came from, she found a woman standing there with a small one-hand crossbow pointed at her. Now this one on the other hand Ravager knew something about, her costume a dead giveaway. The woman was wearing black thigh highs, boots, a purple utility belt and a sleeveless black leotard with a hole cut out at her belly. Black fingerless gloves that reached past her elbows adorned her hands while a black cape with white edges was fastened over her shoulders. And to top it all off, she was wearing a strange purple mask over her eyes that stretched into a pair of pointy edges on either side of her face. Purple weapon pouches were strapped to both her legs and arms, and Ravager was internally debating whether it was very smart to wear such visible colors on one's persona when one wanted to be stealthy. Black hair flowed down her back while dark eyes observed Ravager like she was a prey, and the woman was a hunter. Or in this case, a Huntress.

"You got some moves there kid, wanna go a few rounds with me?" Huntress called out, amusement plain in her voice. Ravager narrowed her eyes at Huntress, this was not looking very good. Her odds then took a real dive down a cliff when Nightwing caught up with her. Fighting was now completely ruled out for Ravager, it was three against one now and two of them were from the Justice League.

"I'm afraid I'll have to take a rain check on that match, Huntress" Ravager said as she quickly pulled out a handful of pellets and threw them all across the roof. They soon exploded and thick smoke enveloped the roof, obscuring all four combatants. Ravager had already memorized the nearest roof edge and quickly sprinted off in that direction. She never saw the roof edge, but she sure as hell felt it when she took another step only to find nothing but air underneath it.

As her body plummeted with alarming speed towards the rocks at the bottom, Ravager twisted her body around and fired her grappling gun at the tower. She momentarily felt jarring pain shoot through her arm as her fall came to an abrupt halt. Pressing a button on the grappling gun caused more wire to be let out, lowering her body the last few meters to the ground. She retracted the grappling hook and then she was off sprinting towards the water.

Without a single hesitation, she plunged into the water without diving gear. She swam deeper into the water as fast as her limbs could move, her eyes scanning the bottom in search of something. After a while, her lungs started burning from holding her breath for too long but she ignored it and kept searching. Finally, when it felt like her lungs would give up on her, Ravager finally located her DPV, lying abandoned on the bottom. With all her remaining strength, she swam over to it and quickly pressed a series of buttons on it, activating its autopilot and setting it to return to base.

As Ravager clung to the vessel while it traveled back to base, she began to madly fumble with her mask, trying to pull it off and with each second her struggles grew more frantic as her desperate need for air grew to the point that her lungs felt like they were on fire. Finally she managed to pry it off enough that her moth was free. She settled with that and quickly brought out an emergency underwater breathing apparatus. As she placed it in her mouth, she tried to take slow and deep breaths. It proved quite a challenge as her greedy lungs tried to suck in as much oxygen it could and as fast as it could.

This mission had not gone as planned for Ravager, but she had completed her objective and she had a crack at Nightwing. All in all, it was not such a bad start in her career as Slade's apprentice. That thought gave her some comfort as she clung to the DPV while it silently glided through the water on its way to the docks.

* * *

Back at the roof

When the smoke finally cleared enough for Nightwing to see, he found that Ravager was gone and only the two others were left. _'Dammit, I can't let that girl get away! She knows where Slade is!' _he thought in desperate anger. Here was the best lead he would ever get to Slade, he could not let it slip past him so easily. He was about to head out in pursuit, not even really knowing where to go, when the faceless man stepped in front of him.

"Don't even bother. She's long gone" he said calmly. Nightwing was about to push him out of the way, or yell at him, or maybe do both, but halted himself before he could do it. His anger was cooled down by cold logic. He was right, Ravager had gotten away this time, and trying to pursue her now would be a waste of time. he gave a mental sigh as his body relaxed. But now that Ravager was gone, there was one last factor to deal with at the moment.

"And who are you exactly?" Nightwing asked in suspicion while narrowing his eyes at the faceless man.

"I do believe I'm expected. I'm Question and Batman sent me here to find out where Iron Mask is hiding" the faceless man, now introduced as Question, announced. Nightwing still eyes him skeptically before his gaze moved to Huntress, who was standing a few feet away while nonchalantly inspecting her crossbow.

"I was informed that there would be only one League member coming" he said, the statement being directed more at Huntress then at Question. Huntress looked up at that, her sharp eyes drilling into Nightwing's masked ones.

"I'm not a League member" she stated coldly while twirling her crossbow before holstering it.

"Then why are you her?" Nightwing asked suspiciously. Huntress flashed him a grin at the question.

"Wherever my darling goes, I go. Simple as that" she answered. Nightwing nodded his head, satisfied with the answer. For now anyways.

"Maybe we should continue this discussion indoors?" Nightwing offered, gaining a pair of nods as the three of them headed inside Titans Tower.

* * *

Unknown location

12.00 am

It was dark when she entered the hideout. Then again, it was always dark here. This deep underground, the only sources of illumination were the lamps, but Slade always tried to use as few as possible. Ravager speculated that he probably preferred to be in the dark than in the light.

"Did you succeed?" Slade's cold voice suddenly spoke right behind Ravager. This time though, she was prepared for it and did not freak out as much as last time. Still, it was quite uncomfortable for her that the man always managed to sneak up on her undetected. Ravager slowly turned around to face Slade's imposing figure standing at arm's length from her. She calmly held out the controller that used to adorn her arm to her master, having removed it before entering the base.

Slade calmly took it in his hand and held up to his face, seemingly examining it for anything out of the ordinary. For several minutes the two of them remained like this, Slade examining the controller while Ravager stood and watched, growing more nervous by every second that passed. Had she displeased him? Did she do something wrong? Those were the thoughts that ate away at her from the inside as she quietly awaited her master's words while keeping a stone cold expression on her face.

"Excellent work apprentice, I'm pleased with your work" Slade finally said, speaking in that sweet tone of his that sent shills up even the most seasoned heroes' spines. But to Ravager, it only gave her a warm feeling inside of her, hearing her master praise her work. Slade was just about to walk away when something occurred to Ravager.

"I ran into some complications on the way" she said. It caused Slade to stop walking. But he did not turn around. He did not say a word, but neither did he make a move, and Ravager caught onto the silent command he was giving her to explain.

"Two Justice League members arrived just as I made my escape. One of them was Huntress, while the other one was a faceless man wearing a blue trench coat and fedora" she explained as calmly as she could. There were several tense moments of silence after that, and Ravager was beginning to wonder if she was dismissed or something.

"What was the faceless one's name?" Slade suddenly asked. Ravager stared at him in confusion as she racked her brain for an answer, but came up empty.

"I-I don't know" she confessed. Slade finally turned his head around to gaze at her. Ravager could not help but gulp slightly in fear as his cold eye burned into her.

"Then I suggest you take the time to find out more about him, in case you run into him again" Slade said slowly and menacingly before turning away and walking out of the dark room. The moment he was gone, Ravager let out a breath she was not even aware she had been holding. She held great adoration for Slade after everything he had done for her, but there were always moments like these when her adoration was overshadowed by another feeling for her master; fear.


	4. Chapter 4: Slaughter or Art

**Chapter 4: Slaughter or Art**

Titans Tower

One day later

01.00 pm

Normally, Nightwing would think that it was impossible to combine Batman and comedy in any way. But he had to admit, what he was seeing right now was pretty hilarious. Apparently Question had failed to inform the Justice League that he had taken his girlfriend with him on the mission. And Batman was anything but thrilled by the news that Huntress, considered by many to be one of the most volatile heroes, was in the same city that a major League operation was taking place.

Batman had first been in a long argument with Question in the Titans living room concerning her involvement, to which Question had tried to calmly placate the dark knight. But it was at that point that it took a different turn. Huntress had apparently had enough of the two males talking about her as if she was not there and so she had showed Question aside, quite roughly he might add, and engaged Batman in a verbal battle. And Nightwing had a first row seat to the whole spectacle while wishing he had a camera at hand to record this. That's how we find them now, Nightwing standing on the sidelines trying to contain his amusement as the huge image of Batman was glaring down upon Huntress who looked bored out of her mind.

"_This is a most delicate League operation, and your presence is neither necessary nor appreciated" _Batman practically growled out to Huntress, who had taken to inspect her nails in an open display of how useless Batman's attempts at intimidation were on her.

"Too bad for you. I kinda like the atmosphere here. I may stick around for a while" she nonchalantly stated without even glancing at Batman. Nightwing could at that point not help but smile in amusement. He had heard some bad rumors about Huntress, but if she refrained from killing anyone while in Jump City Nightwing was sure he would get along wonderfully with her. Heck, any hero with the balls, figuratively speaking of course, to stand up to Batman was okay in his books. Of course, not everyone shared his amusement or optimism on the matter, made obvious by the scowl on Batman's face. Then again, he was always scowling.

"_As I said before, you're not needed here and it would be appreciated if you would leave" _he continued. Finally, it seemed that Huntress had had enough of him as she gave an irritated sigh while turning to glare right back at Batman.

"Listen here, I know what Iron Mask did in the past! Hell, I spent a year tracking his sorry ass across the globe before his track grew too cold! Now he's back, and I ain't gonna sit on the sidelines while you deal with that monster! So whether you approve of it or not, I'm staying here and I'm gonna beat him up so bad that he'll wish that he could die once I'm through with him!" she snarled at him. For several minutes, no one said a word as they waited with baited breaths on who would fold first. Thankfully it seemed that even Batman knew when he was beaten.

"_Very well, if you're so adamant to stay then there's nothing I can say to dissuade you" _he relented, causing Huntress to smirk victoriously at him.

"Nothing you could have done either way. I'm not a League member anymore, hence I don't have to listen to you" she gloated, deliberately adding salt to the wound. Batman's eyes narrowed at her before his image vanished, signaling the end of the discussion. Nightwing took that moment to step forward towards the two guests.

"Now that we've cleared that up, I hope we can get back to work" he said, trying his best to sound as polite as possible. But Huntress just snorted as she strolled out of the living room.

"You two can get back to work if you want, but I'm gonna go get a feel of this city" she called over her shoulder just before the door closed behind her. Question just shook his head but said nothing to stop her, knowing already that it would be fruitless. He then turned towards Nightwing.

"Shall we?" he asked while gesturing with his hand towards the door. Nightwing just walked out of the living room, Question quickly catching up to him and walking next to him.

"I'll need every possible lead you've come up with so far on Iron Mask, along with all the information available on places often used as hideouts by villains" Question listed off as the two of them walked on through the halls. Nightwing meanwhile tried to keep a calm air about himself, but it proved to be a challenge. Ever since breaking off from Batman, Nightwing have had a really hard time taking orders from anyone, and Question was really putting a strain on him at the moment.

"Look, I know you're supposed to locate Iron Mask, but don't start to order us around!" Nightwing snapped at him. Question just turned to look at him and Nightwing was certain that he was gazing at him in curiosity under that weird mask of his.

"Something bothering you?" he asked curiously, but by his tone it sounded like he already knew the answer. Nightwing gave him a sidelong glance before answering.

"I just don't like it that the Justice League comes barging in here and meddles with our job" he replied bluntly, not really caring if he was rude or insulted Question.

"You seem to take this case with Iron Mask very personally. Is there a particular reason as to why it's so?" Question asked, ignoring Nightwing's earlier statement. For a few moments, Nightwing looked uncertain to what he should say. Yes, he took this very personally, but the reason was a secret he was determined to take with him to the grave.

"You wouldn't understand" Nightwing just grumbled out, hoping it would deter Question.

"Understand what? That Iron Mask was not the true mastermind behind the daemon attack three years ago? That it was in fact Raven who orchestrated it after being driven insane by an ancient daemon inhabiting a black crystal? That the whole story you gave the world was just a lie to cover up the horrible truth?" Question questioned rhetorically. Nightwing came to an abrupt halt in shock, his wide eyes staring in surprise at Question's back, who had just kept on walking.

"How…?" Nightwing asked numbly. Finally Question stopped walking and turned around to observe Nightwing.

"Batman's not the only one with detective skills. It took me awhile, but once I had all the pieces, it was easy to put the puzzle together" he explained. Nightwing kept staring at Question in shock for a few moments before snapping out of it and sprinting to catch up with him.

"Does Batman know?" Nightwing asked as the two of them resumed their walk.

"I would like to say 'no', but we both know how Batman is" Question answered, and Nightwing could only nod in understanding. Batman always seemed to know everything there was to know.

"But if you knew all along, why did you keep quiet about it?" Nightwing asked. The Question snorted at that.

"Please, be reasonably here. If I went public with the truth, it would have been my word against six others. One of which happened to be _the _Batman. Add to the fact that I'm a so called crackpot and conspiracy bub" question turned his blank facemask towards Nightwing, and he was certain that Question was staring into his eyes "Now tell me, who do you think the people would have chosen to believe?"

Nightwing said nothing, but he nodded his head in understanding. It was blatantly obvious who the people would have believed. The two kept walking in silence after that until they reached a room with the label "guestroom" stamped on its door.

"Who would've thought we'd ever use these rooms?" Nightwing muttered to himself as the two of them stepped inside the vacant room, finding only a bed and a closet inside.

"This is the best we have to offer. We rarely get visitors here, and when we do they rarely stay for long" Nightwing said. Question just shrugged.

"It's good enough for me" he said. Nightwing was about to say something when his communicator went off. Looking at it for a second, he then turned back to Question with an apologetic expression on his face.

"Excuse me for a moment" Nightwing said before exiting the room and closing the door behind him. He even went a bit down the hallway before answering, not wanting to risk Question overhearing him.

"Nightwing here" Nightwing became a little curious when he saw that the one on the other line was a young woman with glasses and office clothes.

"_Good day to you sir. I'm mayor Rick Mannfred's secretary" _she introduced herself. Now it was clearer to Nightwing.

"Ah, good day. How is the mayor?" Nightwing asked in curiosity.

"_Considering his wounds, he's surprisingly well. He's requested to speak with you in person about the incident yesterday" _the secretary answered. Nightwing looked thoughtful for a moment. He himself had no time for a meeting with the mayor right now, not with a League member here. But there was another alternative instead of him going.

"Tell him I'm currently preoccupied with other matters, but I'll be sending my second-in-command" he explained before cutting the link. Now he just needed to find him. having a decent idea as to where he might be, Nightwing made his way to the lower levels of the tower until he reached the garage, the unofficial domain of Cyborg. Said man was in the midst of doing maintenance on his "baby", more commonly referred to as the T-car. He was completely unaware of Nightwing's entrance as he lay underneath the T-car, whistling a happy tune to himself.

"Hey Cyborg" Nightwing called out, seconds later hearing the unmistakable sound of a head slamming into metal. It was quickly followed by a string of curses as Cyborg pushed himself out from underneath the car, looking more than ready to bring pain to whomever the guilty one was. His eyes were quickly locked upon Nightwing standing at the doorway, staring back stoically while trying not to smile in amusement at his longtime friend.

"Yo Nightwing, I do hope you have a very good reason to come sneaking up on me like that while I'm working on my baby" Cyborg stated as he stood back up while folding his arms over his chest, glaring in mock irritation at Nightwing. Though any humorous air that may have been there for a moment was blown away by the grim expression Nightwing wore.

"The mayor wanted to talk to me about the attack yesterday, but I'm currently busy with our _guest"_ the last word was spoken with a taint of resentment to it on Nightwing's part "So I'm sending you instead. You okay with it?" Nightwing asked, not wanting to send his friend in his place if he did not want to. It was after all Nightwing they had wanted to meet, not Cyborg.

"No problem. Got nothing better to do anyway" Cyborg said with a casual tone. Nightwing gratefully nodded his head. He was about to walk away to find Question when his progress was hampered by a metallic hand on his shoulder.

"You still haven't told us why exactly that guy's even here" Cyborg stated to Nightwing. He, like all the others on the team, was greatly curious as to why a League member was here, and their patience for answers were beginning to run thin. The moment those words left Cyborg's mouth, Nightwing's face darkened in anger.

"He's here, by Batman's orders, to do our work" he growled out in barely restrained fury. Once again, that overwhelming urge to punch Batman resurfaced. Not wanting to show his anger to Cyborg, he shook his hand from his shoulder and began walking out.

"Believe me, I want to be the one to bring that monster down as much as you do" Cyborg called after him, having read between the lines as to what Nightwing had said "But you should not brush off help that's being offered so easy, even if you don't like Batman" Nightwing froze up in shock from Cyborg's words.

"We alone can't beat him, no matter how much you may think otherwise. We need help to stop him" Cyborg continued. Nightwing did not utter a word back to him. In fact, he did nothing but stand in the same spot without so much as twitching. Truth was, he did not know what to say to Cyborg's words. They rang true in his ears, but his stubborn and paranoid side refused to accept them. Cyborg meanwhile had walked back to the T-car and had already taken the driver seat. He was about to close the door and drive away when he leaned out and offered his last words to Nightwing.

"No single hero can do all the work by himself. That's the ideal that both the Titans and the Justice League are founded upon. And now it seems like you're close to forgetting those words because of your resentment towards Batman. Don't let some petty rivalry get in the way of stopping Iron Mask" he said. And with that, he slammed to car door close and speeded away, heading towards Jump City and leaving behind a shaken Nightwing. For several minutes he just stood rooted to the spot, his mind drawn blank by Cyborg's words.

"You just don't understand. It's more than just a petty rivalry" Nightwing finally said in a weak and low voice before walking away.

* * *

Jump City sewers

01.15 pm

"How much longer must we wait?!" that aggravated question echoed through the sewer lines, originating from a figure standing in front of another figure. The first figure was shrouded in darkness but the second one was standing in the dim light offered by a manhole and was revealed to be Iron Mask.

"Like I've said before Carnifex, you need to be _patient_. Everything's going according to our pla…" Iron Mask tried to explain but got no further as like a striking viper, Carnifex's right hand latched itself around Iron Mask's throat. The exposed arm was bulging with muscles that would put any wrestler to shame and the tanned skin was covered by ugly scars all over it.

Carnifex forced Iron Mask closer towards him while leaning forward to get right in his face. The small rays of sunlight seeping through the manhole reflected in Carnifex's blood red eyes as they glared into Iron Mask's eyeholes, burning with murderous intent.

"I've had it with being patient! I've been patient for days now! I need to kill something now! And if you won't give me something to kill, I'll settle with you!" he snarled in a tone overflowing with uncontrollable rage. A best-like growl accompanied his threat from somewhere in the darkness. But Iron Mask just laughed at his threat, even as the pressure on his throat increased.

"And how, pray tell, will you _accomplir_ that?" he asked in amusement, though his voice sounded weak and strained. Not that it was unexpected with how much pressure was applied to his throat.

"Any way I can" Carnifex replied as his left arm was raised, ready to smash into Iron Mask. But Carnifex froze up when he felt cold metal being pressed against his bare stomach. Looking down, he found that Iron Mask was pressing a Beretta 93R against his stomach. As his glare traveled back up to Iron Mask's face, he could just feel the gleeful smile the madman wore underneath his mask.

"I've always wanted to use this _ligne_" Iron Mask said before his voice become darker and more gruff "Feeling lucky, punk?"

Carnifex just growled in anger as he tightened his hold on Iron Mask's throat to the point that the neck was close to snapping like a twig.

"Am I interrupting something here?" a feminine voice asked sarcastically from behind the two males. Turning their head in the voice's direction, they found a slim figure walking towards them with a slow grace to her steps. Her appearance was hidden from their sight due to the suffocating darkness dominating most of the sewers, but they both knew who this was. Carnifex snarled in anger the moment his eyes landed on her.

"Stay the hell outta this Krystal! This is between me and him!" he nearly shouted in anger. She just waved her hand in a dismissing gesture.

"Please, as if I would even consider involving myself with anything even remotely connected to a pig like you" she scoffed at him. Carnifex immediately let go of Iron Mask and strode right up to Krystal, towering menacingly above her. She just placed her hands on her hips in a challenging pose. The two of them squared off with each other for a good few minutes, each waiting for the other one to back down.

"I swear you two are like an old _marié_ couple sometimes" Iron Mask suddenly pointed out in a bored tone. Both of them broke eye contact with each other to stare in murderous rage at Iron Mask. Clearly both of them were appalled by such a thought.

"How dare you say such a thing? To even joke about the concept of me and this brainless brute having a life together is an insult to my very being!" Krystal said in utter disgust.

"And don't you dare joke about me being together with this shriveled old hag!" Carnifex shouted at him. It seemed to take a few seconds before they both realized they had just insulted one another again and they started shouting at each other, spewing out profanities about one another that even disturbed Iron Mask to a degree.

"Quite a lively pair, are they not?" a smooth and silky voice said from behind Iron Mask. He did not even turn around in surprise, having already guessed he must have been nearby if Krystal was here as well.

"Sometimes I wonder why they're even a part of this _opération_" Iron Mask responded as a tall and inhumanly thin figure walked up next to him. They both stood in comfortable silence for a few moments, watching the heated exchange between Carnifex and Krystal with a mixture of amusement and resignation.

"Shouldn't you break them up or something, being the leader and all?" the tall figure asked in curiosity. Iron Mask just sighed while clutching his face plate with his left hand.

"And this is why I always _préférer_ to follow rather than lead" he grumbled under his breath before calling forth a flock of crows that flew between Carnifex and Krystal, forcing them apart. They both turned their accusing glares at Iron Mask, who was nonchalantly strolling up to the pair.

"As much as I'm _amusé_ by pointless _violence_ and bloodshed, it would be a waste of time and valuable _ressources_ to let the two of you to tear each other to _pièces_" he explained in a bored tone as he waked right past them before spinning around to face all three of his "subordinates".

"But now that we're all gathered in the same _spot_, I _supposer_ it's time to _révéler_ the next step in our _plan_" he announced.

"This had better involve killing or I'm gonna go ballistic" Carnifex quietly muttered irritably to himself, but he was paid no heed to.

"We've gathered most of the items needed for the _rituel_, but there are still two items that we _requérir_ before we can enact our _plan_. I still haven't been able to _localiser_ one of them, whoever hid it did a _remarquable_ job at it" Iron Mask explained and the group could practically hear the twisted smile he wore underneath the mask as he continued "But it was child's play to _localiser_ the other one, it's on open display for the whole world to see" there was a few moments of silence after that, until the tall figure spoke up.

"So, where exactly is it?" he asked curiously.

"Well it's not in Jump City if that's what you're asking. Though thankfully it's just a _simple_ plane trip away" Iron Mask answered. Carnifex was already moving hurriedly down the sewer, eager to get moving.

"Then what the hell are we waiting for? Better weather? Let's just get a move on already!" he shouted over his shoulder. However, he stopped walking when he realized one important factor; none of the others were even moving. He rapidly spun around to glare in irritated confusion at his partners in crime.

"Okay, now what's wrong?!" he shouted. Iron Mask just fixed Carnifex with a piercing stare and kept it up until Carnifex finally had enough and turned his eyes away.

"None of you will be going with me. You'll all stay here in Jump City while I _retrouver_ the item by myself" Iron Mask told them, receiving mixed reactions. The tall one just looked on stoically with no visible reaction to the news. Krystal looked completely stunned by the news, though with the limited light it was hard to say exactly what her reactions were. Carnifex had the loudest reactions of them all.

"WHAAAAAAT!" he bellowed in rage. His whole body was shaking in anger, causing Krystal to groan in exasperation while muttering something that sounded like "here we go again". Iron Mask however was completely unfazed by the man's rage.

"Now don't you worry, Carnifex. I wouldn't _abandonner_ you all without first giving you something to do while I'm away" he said in a placating manner. That seemed to calm Carnifex down to some degree, but he still glared murderously at Iron Mask.

"Then what is it you want us to do?" Krystal asked, seeing as letting Carnifex lead the conversation would only lead to more shouting. The moment the question left her mouth, Iron Mask began to sadistically chuckle.

"_Simple_ really; create _chaos_ and _panique_. Stir things up as much as you can. Commit _banque_ robberies, murder _innocents_, slaughter _des policiers_, destroy _monuments_ and _combattre_ anyone you can find. Do whatever you fancy doing" he said in an amused tone. Krystal immediately perked up at that, and an excited gleam entered Carnifex's eyes.

"When can we begin?!" Carnifex demanded, looking like he had to struggle not to jump up and down in joy. Mentally, Iron Mask sighed. _'Am I in command of a band of psychopathic killers, or a bunch of spoiled brats?' _he asked himself.

"You start right now" he answered. Carnifex's face twisted into a feral grin when he heard it.

"Finally! A chance to kill something!" he shouted as he picked up something that had lain against the wall. Krystal was instantly at his side.

"Don't you dare even think that you'll get all the fun here. This is a perfect moment for me to work my art" she stated with finality. Carnifex gave a threatening growl but said nothing to deter her.

"Just don't get in my way" he warned her before the two of them walked away. But as they headed off to cause mayhem, an inhuman and very animal-like growl came from Carnifex's left arm while a small stream of light temporarily hit Krystal's hands only to be seemingly swallowed up by the pitch black hands.

"The seem quite eager, don't you think?" the tall figure inquired merrily. Iron Mask seemed to ignore the question and walked away in the opposite direction that Crystal and Carnifex went. But just as he passed the tall figure he stopped.

"I trust you to keep those two _en ligne_. Remember, no matter what happens, _les Titans_ are not _permis_ to die" Iron Mask said sternly.

"And why's that? Shouldn't we get rid of them as fast as possible? We already have the Justice League on our heels by now, so would it not be more beneficial for us to remove as many enemies as we can?" the tall figure asked in confusion. Iron Mask was silent after that and the tall figure began to think that he would not receive an answer.

"Trust me, _les Titans_ will all fall. But I have something truly _spécial_ planned out for them. Until that time, no matter how much it _peines_ us, they must be _permis_ to live" Iron Mask finally answered before his body dissolved into crows, leaving the tall figure alone in the sewer.

"Oh well, might as well find me a snack or two. Wonder where the nearest school is?" he mused thoughtfully to himself as he strolled down the sewer.

* * *

Jump City town hall

01.20 pm

Activity was skyrocketing at town hall. The terror bombing the day before had really put the fear into the people of Jump City and they were working overtime in trying to calm the population down enough to avoid mass panic. And seated in his office in a wheelchair while most of his body was wrapped up in bandages like a mummy, was Mayor Rick Mannfred. It had been a pure miracle that he had survived the explosion, largely thanks to the quick acting of his bodyguards that had escorted him away the moment there were signs of trouble.

Rick had spent the rest of the day and the whole night in a hospital, but had immediately been up and about at daybreak again. Despite the protests of his assistants he had returned to work, not about to let "a few scrapes and burns" as he called them stop him. The truth was that his wounds left all his limbs save his left arm useless. Many advised him to take it easy and let others take care of his work. They might as well have been asking a wall to turn the other way around.

Currently he was waiting for one of the Titans to arrive. The people were terrified, the law enforcements were clueless as to what to do and many were demanding that he called in the National Guard. But he did not want to go that far just yet. What he really needed was to know what exactly the Titans had planned to do about this terrorist. He was so deep in his brooding that he nearly jumped right out of his wheelchair when someone knocked on his door. The door was opened slightly and his secretary poked her head in.

"Sir, Cyborg is here to see you" she said.

"Send him in then" Rick said without a moment's thought. The door was quickly opened all the way and Cyborg's imposing form entered the office. The moment Cyborg saw the mayor's condition, he raised a surprised eyebrow.

"Should you really be working with those wounds?" he asked. Rick just groaned tiredly in response.

"Please, don't start with me you too. I already have half the staff continuously nagging me about it, and I'm sure the other half is busy looking for a law that will force me to stop working until my wounds are healed" he said in a whining tone. Cyborg shrugged his shoulders in acceptance, figuring it was not really his business to begin with.

"Please, have a seat" Rick said while gesturing to a chair in front of his desk "I would normally stand up and shake hands with you, but as you can see I'm a bit tied down at the moment" both of them chuckled lightly at the joke before Cyborg took his seat and all traces of humor evaporated.

"The whole city is currently shitting its pants and we're smacked senseless on what to do at the moment. I need to know what you're planning on doing" Rick stated. Cyborg tiredly sighed while rubbing the back of his head.

"Honestly, we're not completely sure ourselves. The guy is nearly impossible to stop" he answered truthfully. Rick just nodded his head slowly, though he looked slightly troubled by the news.

"Is there nothing you can do?" he asked, the slightest tint of desperation seeping into his voice. Cyborg frowned momentarily, unsure if he should disclose the next piece of information or not. Finally deciding that there could be no harm in it, he answered the question.

"Not at the moment. But I can tell you that the guy has attracted the attention of the Justice League and they have sent one of their best operatives to investigate" though Cyborg was a little uncertain on the "best operative" part. Seriously, the guy both looked and acted the part of a paranoid nutcase. At least the news seemed to calm the mayor down somewhat.

"Well then, with both the Titans and the Justice League working on this, I'm sure the culprit will be apprehended in no time" he said cheerfully before his mood became sullen and serious again.

"But I have to know another fact as well; what will you do with him once he's in custody?" he asked. Cyborg blinked a few times in surprise before answering.

"Umm… I'm afraid I don't follow you there" he said. Rick just gave him a leveled gaze.

"I'm sure you're well aware of what I'm trying to say here. Given your old… entanglements and loss concerning Iron Mask, I need to know that the Titans will not step out of line when dealing with him" he stated. At first Cyborg looked indifferent, but finally relented and slumped into his seat while giving a tired sigh.

"I'll admit, nothing would please me more than snap his neck and dump him in the bay. But doing so would only lower myself to his level" _'Plus it would be completely useless given his immortality' _he added to himself mentally. Rick nodded his head in understanding at those words. Cyborg then flashed him a cocky smile.

"So don't worry. The Titans ain't about to go overboard just yet" he said confidently. Rick allowed himself a small smile in response.

"That's good to hear" he exclaimed.

* * *

Titans Tower

01.25 pm

Changeling hesitantly approached Terra's room. He was worried about her. She had been quite depressed and distant after the fight with Iron Mask. He could understand that, the whole team had been in a similar mood. But ever since she heard the news that Slade was back in town, with a new apprentice no less, she had barricaded herself in her room and so far had refused to come out. Standing just outside her door, Changeling took a deep breath before slowly raising his hand and knocked on her door.

"Hey Terra, it's me. Can you open up for me?" he asked shyly. No answer came from inside. He nervously waited for what felt like an eternity to him for some kind of answer from inside. Nothing ever came. Finally deciding to throw caution to the wind, and deciding to worry for his own wellbeing later, Changeling opened the door. He cautiously peered inside and found Terra seated on her bed, facing away from the door.

"Terra?" he asked hesitantly as he stepped inside. Still she gave no hint that she had even noticed him. Changeling found his legs carrying him closer towards Terra, who continued to sit immobile.

"Why must this always happen to us?" Terra suddenly asked without turning towards him. Changeling stopped in surprise and stared at Terra in confusion.

"Why must he come back and cause more grief for us, why can't he leave us alone?" she continued without waiting for a reply to the first question. Changeling just looked as confused as before.

"If you're worried about Iron Mask, you don't have to be. I'm sure we'll stop him this time" he assured her, trying to sound confident. Without warning, Terra whipped her head around and glared at Changeling with tear-filled eyes.

"I wasn't talking about him!" she nearly snarled. It only took a few seconds after that for it to click together in Changeling's head, at which point he felt like smashing his head against a wall for his stupidity. He quickly walked over and sat next to Terra. At first he said nothing, just grabbed her hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"You don't have to fear him, he can't hurt you anymore" he reassured her. She just turned her head away as more tears spilled out.

"He promised me a way to gain control, to finally be free from the fear of losing control. He told me that only he could help me, that only he could understand me. All of it were just honeyed lies to drive me away from my only friends, and I fell for it all like a pathetic schoolgirl with a crush" she said in bitterness. Changeling's hand suddenly grasped her chin gently and forced her to turn her eyes back to him. He stared deep into her tear-filled eyes with steely determination.

"You're not the same girl you were before. You're stronger than that now" his hand let go of her chin to gently stroke her left cheek "You always worry that you won't prove yourself worthy of being a Titans again. Well, here's your chance to prove it. Stand up to him, show him that you're better than him"

More tears spilled out of Terra's eyes because of his words. Yet they were not tears of sadness, but tears of joy. She smiled slightly as he leaned into his arms for comfort.

"Hold me" was all she said to him. No further words were needed between them as Changeling held Terra in his loving embrace.

* * *

Jump City

Unknown location

10.50 pm

Darkness. That seemed to be all that there ever was in Slade's hideouts, nothing but cold metal and suffocating darkness. Just like the man himself. Slade was currently seated in front of his vast arrays of computers, the screens being the only source of light in the rom. On the screens were several different events showed. The most dominating ones were news coverage of Iron Mask's attack, security tapes on the man during his time in Jump City three years earlier and of course the most entertaining one in Slade's opinion: a video feed of Ravager's and Nightwing's fight.

Internally, he was pleased with his newest apprentice's improvements. Such a far cry from the weak and sniveling wreck he had taken under his wing so long ago. Still, she still had a long way to go in order to best Nightwing if she needed to use such a dirty move to get away, but the girl had potential. He had seen it in her when he first found her, broken and bleeding in the forgotten world of crime and poverty that existed in every city. But even then, her eyes had held a fire to them that even Slade had to admire. And now, nearly a year after her indoctrination into her new life, that fire had ignited into something far grander for Slade to mold into what he had always desired; the perfect apprentice. Mirthless chuckle rose out of his throat.

"Third time's the charm I guess" he muttered to himself. But by uttering that phrase, he found his thoughts drifting to his two former apprentices. A disappointed sigh slipped out of his mouth as he remembered them. Both had held such potential in them, potential that with the right guidance could have made them into something greater than they could have ever imagined. But alas, their morals and friendships kept them chained to their pitiful existence. Slade had offered them everything; all his power, all his knowledge, all his skills, all for them. But in the end, their faint hearts had chosen their friends over him.

Unconsciously, his hands tightened into fists and his only eye narrowed in frustration. Friends. Such things were only a nuisance at best and a hindrance at worst. Someone with true strength and power did not need to rely on something as worthless as friends. but Slade could not deny the strength that friends together formed, as clearly shown by his defeats at the hands of the Titans time and again.

A sadistic grin split his face underneath his mask. _'But this time it will be different'_ he thought. This time, he would crush the Titans once and for all. With Ravager by his side, he would at last conquer his old time foes and claim this city for himself. And he had already planned the fate of his two wayward apprentices. Terra, that traitorous little bitch, would be given to Ravager to torture. She needed to brush up on her interrogation skills anyway, and what better way to learn about a person's weak points than to practice on a living specimen?

And Nightwing, he was going to suffer the worst. Slade would devote all his time on making sure on that. He would be forced to watch as his precious friends were slowly and painfully killed right in front of him. He would learn the price of defying Slade in the most excruciating ways a human mind could imagine. He would break Nightwing, both in body and in spirit. Before Slade was done with the boy, he would be begging him for the sweet relief of death. A relief that Slade would deny him over and over. Nightwing's final end would be neither swift nor painless, but it would be one of the most satisfying events in Slade's life.

A beeping noise suddenly snapped Slade out of his dark fantasies. Letting out an irritated growl at the unexpected interruption, he answered the call.

"Yes?" he asked curtly, with thinly veiled anger woven into his voice. There were a few moments of nervous stuttering from the other end as whoever it was that disturbed Slade was trying to pick up the nerves he had dropped when Slade had spoken.

"_S-sir. You w-wanted to be n-notified if news a-about the T-Titans came up" _a meek and frightened voice said from the other end. Keeping his calm composure, Slade suppressed an irritated growl from slipping out of his throat. No need to scare away his mole within the government until he was no longer useful.

"Yes, that I did. I take it you have news then?" he inquired politely, his voice colder than ice. A very audible gulp could be heard from the other end before a hurried response came.

"_Well, C-Cyborg just c-came out of a m-meeting w-with the mayor" _the mole stammered out fearfully. Slade slowly nodded his head in thought.

"Do you know what they were discussing about?" he asked.

"_Yes, they were t-talking about the recent a-attack by I-Iron Mask" _was the stammered answer he got. Slade decided he had heard what he needed to hear and turned off the link without another word to his mole. It would seem that Iron Mask had the whole city in a grip of terror. Well, for the moment, it actually suited Slade's needs perfectly. Kept all the spotlight away from him. With that, he turned his gaze back to the screens he had been previously observing. His time would come soon enough.

* * *

Jump City streets

01.50 pm

If there was one thing Cyborg hated about big sprawling cities, it was the nerve wracking nightmare that was more commonly referred to as traffic. He had been stuck in the same car line for God knows how long now, and he was sorely tempted to take his sonic cannon and just blast his way home.

"This can't possibly get any worse" he grumbled out, immediately after uttering those words slapping himself mentally when he remembered the universal rule that things _always _get worse when you say that they cannot. To prove it right, an explosion suddenly rocketed the T-car and sent it careening into the adjacent file. The car finally came to a stop when it rammed a truck in the side while being flipped upside down.

"I was just talking to myself, dammit!" Cyborg shouted out at no one in particular as he hung upside down, still strapped to his seat by the seatbelt. He quickly removed the seatbelt, slamming his head on the car's roof when gravity took hold of him, before kicking the door off its hinges and crawling out of the car. As he staggered to his feet, he surveyed the scene in shock and confusion. The explosion had blasted a good portion of the road he had been travelling on to pieces and not everyone had been as fortunate as he had.

Several cars were nothing more than smashed and burning wrecks, with its passengers no doubt already dead. He even saw a bloodied arm hanging limply out of a car just next to his own. It was still clutching a teddy bear. Cyborg's whole body shook with rage and sadness as he heard the moans of pain and the cries of anguish echoing around.

"Whoever is behind this will pay dearly" he growled out in rage as his left hand transformed into a sonic cannon.

"I'm more of the opinion that you'll be the one to pay dearly" a feminine voice said from behind him. Turning around, he found two figures standing on top of the truck his car had smashed into. The woman who had spoken was clearly of Asian origin, dressed in a pink kimono with colorful flowers depicted on it. A fan was held over the lower portion of her face, showing only her cold purple eyes. Her raven black hair was tied up in a bum with two shuriken needles holding it in place. But the most striking part of her appearance, were her hands. They were not made of flesh and bone, but of a black crystal-like substance.

The other one was a hulking mass of muscles, with small metal plates fused right into his skin on here and there over his body. His bare upper body was crisscrossed with scars of all shapes and sizes while military styled pants and boots adorned his lower body. His skull was completely bald, displaying the ugly scar running across it as a telltale sign of brain surgery. In his right hand he was clutching a massive double-bladed axe with red glowing runes covering every part of it. The sheer size of the axe made Cyborg question how in the world he was even able to lift it in the first place. It was nearly as big as the man himself.

His blood red eyes were filled with murderous intent and berserk insanity. But what was truly disturbing about this man, was his left arm. It was twice as big as his right arm, covered in black scales and it had no hand. Instead there was a gaping maw, filled with razor sharp teeth as long as daggers. Saliva continuously dropped from the gaping maw, sizzling as it made contact with anything else.

"And who're you two?" Cyborg asked harshly while aiming his sonic cannon at the pair, though he could not help but scrutinize the woman's hands. That black material, it looked hauntingly familiar to him.

"Well if you're so eager to know, I guess I can tell. My name is Krystal" the woman said before waving a dismissing hand towards her companion "And this lumbering brute is Carnifex"

Carnifex growled threateningly at Krystal while his whole body tensed up in preparation to attack. Who exactly he was planning to attack was however a little uncertain. Crystal looked untroubled, but Cyborg was watching him wearingly, waiting for when the berserk spirited madman would attack. It was at that moment that Cyborg caught sight of something he had missed before. There was a mark on Carnifex's left arm, glowing red like burning coal. Cyborg stared at it with fear and trepidation, not believing that what he saw could be true. It was mark he had seen before, a mark he and all the other Titans had thought they would have never had to see again. It was the mark of Scath.

"That mark. Where did you…" he began, but got no further as with a bestial roar, Carnifex leaped at him with his axe raised high. He swung it down with all his might, aiming to cleave Cyborg in two. He barely jumped aside and watched in horror as the axe cut right through the cemented road as if it was butter. Before he even knew it, Carnifex lashed out with his left arm, the bestial mouth wide open and ready to take a bite out of Cyborg. He luckily managed to knock the arm aside and wasting no time, he rushed right in to deliver a blow to Carnifex's head. Then another, and another, and another.

"Come on man! Show me what you got!" Cyborg shouted in anger as he kept up the barrage of blows, his rage for all the dead fuelling his cybernetic strength. That is, until Carnifex caught Cyborg's fist in his left hand maw. He glared deeply into Cyborg's eyes, looking more pissed off than wounded by Cyborg's attacks.

"As you wish, tin can" he snarled out as the dagger-like teeth punched right through his armored knuckles. As Cyborg cried out in pain, Carnifex swung his axe in an upward stroke that would have finished Cyborg off if he had not transformed both his hands into sonic cannons, firing the one trapped in the hand maw right into the thing's throat while the other one blasted Carnifex right in the chest. The twin blasts pushed the two combatants apart, though the axe still managed to graze Cyborg's chestplate.

Cyborg clutched his damaged right hand to his chest, a pained expression on his face. It was during moments like these he wondered why he even could feel pain to begin with. He was half machine dammit, he should not feel anything! In front of him, Carnifex gave him a predatory smile as he crouched low, looking completely unharmed.

"That all you got?" he taunted before launching into a sprint, his axe being dragged along the road and carving a trail in it. Cyborg growled in anger as his shoulder plates opened up and a salvo of six rockets streamed out towards the rushing Carnifex, who just grinned maniacally at the approaching threat.

He cleaved the first two rockets in two with his axe, knocked aside the third one, leaped right over the fourth one, caught the fifth one in his hand mouth and threw it right into the sixth and final one. All of this happened in a matter of seconds. Cyborg was completely stunned and had no time to react as Carnifex leaped out of the smoke caused by the two rockets with a savage war cry on his lips. He swung his axe straight down on Cyborg's left shoulder, cleaving right through it and cutting off his left arm.

Cyborg stumbled back in shock and pain while clutching the wound with his remaining hand, but Carnifex was on him in an instant. Grabbing hold of his remaining shoulder with his terrible maw he slammed Cyborg stomach straight into his knee, buckling the armor there, while crushing the shoulder plate on his right arm with his powerful maw. Cyborg was brought to his knees by the pain and strain, coughing violently from the blow to his stomach. Carnifex meanwhile raised his axe high for a decapitation strike, a triumphant grin plastered on his face.

"This has gotta be my lucky day. I get to add a Titan's head to my collection!" he gloated as he prepared to deliver the death blow.

"_No you don't" _a silky voice suddenly said in his head, making Carnifex stop momentarily in shock. And that was all the time Cyborg needed as he transformed his remaining hand into a sonic cannon and slammed it right into Carnifex's nether regions and fired off the strongest blast he could. Carnifex was sent flying into the air before crashing heavily onto a taxi, crushing the car underneath his weight. Cyborg meanwhile staggered back up to his feet, breathing as if he had just run up and down Mount Everest three times in a row.

"You're gonna have to do better than that if you want to beat a Titan!" he snarled out, though it was mostly just empty boasting. He armor was smashed and sliced all over. Damage readings indicated that he was operating on a 50% capacity. And as his opponent staggered back up, Cyborg noted with a small amount of dread that he just looked a little roughed up. If anything, Cyborg suspected that he had done nothing more than anger him further.

"Seriously Carnifex, must you take so long to defeat a simple machine?" Krystal suddenly asked in a condescending tone. Mentally, Cyborg groaned. He had completely forgotten that Carnifex was not alone here. His eyes travelled to Krystal, who was watching the whole spectacle with disinterest. She could prove to be a big threat if she decided to intervene, since Cyborg had no idea what kind of skills or powers she possessed. Though so far she seemed contend to just sit back and let her partner do all the work.

"Shut it, Krystal! I was about to cut his fucking head off when I was interrupted!" Carnifex snarled back at her. She just shook her head in annoyance.

"Excuses, excuses. Always using excuses to cover up your own incompetence" she stated tiredly. Carnifex was now growling threateningly at her, with both his mouths. But as the two of them had their quarrel, Cyborg took the chance call for back-up. He slowly picked up his severed left arm and activated the inbuilt communicator.

"Titans, do you read me? I need back-up down here ASAP" Cyborg desperately called. For a few seconds, nothing but static was heard across the link. But finally Nightwing's concerned voice broke through.

"_Cyborg? What's going on out there? We just heard about the explosion and were about to…" _he got no further than that as two shuriken needles made out of black crystal embedded themselves in the arm. Cyborg stared at the needles in shock, but that shock soon turned to horror as the arm was rapidly crystalized. He quickly threw it away from himself as if it was a deadly disease. For several precious moments, his eyes were locked upon his severed arm, now fully turned into crystal.

"Now, now Cyborg. Can't have you call for your friends so soon" Krystal taunted him. Cyborg finally managed to tear his gaze away from his arm and turned towards Krystal. She was still holding her fan in front of her face, but Cyborg could just feel her smirking at him. She suddenly held out her right hand and three shuriken needles grew out, clutched in between her fingers.

"So, how do you like my art so far?" she asked sweetly while Carnifex grumbled something inaudible underneath his breath. Cyborg just stared at her in confusion.

"Art?" he asked hesitantly, unsure if he had heard correctly.

"Yes, art. You see, unlike my brutish companion here, I do not seek to kill for the sake of killing. I seek to create something beautiful out of death, a higher purpose for the people than to simply rot away in a grave. And this power of mine" she held up her crystal needles for emphasis "is the instrument of my great work" she suddenly threw her trio of needles with grace and deadly precision as they pierced three unfortunate bystanders right in their chests. They were all turned into crystal statues in a matter of seconds, their last looks of horror forever frozen on their faces. Cyborg was completely slack-jawed from her action.

"This is _my _art" Krystal stated proudly. Carnifex just sighed in irritated boredom. He did not care about his partner's stupid art, he just wanted to cut Cyborg's head off to mount it on his wall. Cyborg meanwhile regarded Krystal with a look of disgust on his face.

"You really have a sick idea of what art is" he spat out in contempt. Krystal furrowed her brows in anger at that remark, while Carnifex huffed.

"At least he has enough sense to see that" he muttered loud enough for Krystal to hear. She in turn turned a hateful glare at him, apparently not liking her art being dismissed in such a manner. She was about to give a retort, but did not get the chance as she was forced to leap off the truck she had been standing on to avoid a volley of crossbow bolts.

"Well, seems like I arrived just in time to save your sorry ass" Huntress remarked humorlessly as she seemed to melt right out of the shadows of a nearby alley and walked up to stand next to Cyborg. He said nothing in return, but was internally letting out a deep breath in relief. As much as it pained him, quite literally in this case, he was outmatched on his own in this fight.

"And who might you be?" Krystal inquired in a civil tone, causing Carnifex to grunt in irritation.

"Who cares who she is? She's helping the tin can, and therefore I'll cut her to pieces" he grumbled out in anger. Krystal gave her partner a sidelong glance in disgust.

"You were going to do it anyway, regardless if she would have aided him or not. It would at least be prudent to know the name of who you were going to kill. Of course, the very thought that you of all people would possess the manners and intellect to grasp such a concept is outright ludicrous" she condescendingly stated. That comment seemed to not sit very well with the muscle bound brute, as in a rage he swung his axe at Krystal, who nimbly jumped right over it.

"By Trigon's rotten balls! I'll fucking gut you and strangle you with your own intestines for that!" he roared at her as he kept swinging his axe at her. Krystal meanwhile looked completely untroubled by the attacks against her. Huntress meanwhile was looking at the pair with a deadpan expression.

"And you had trouble with these two on your own?" she asked Cyborg. But he did not pay attention to her at all, all his focus was directed towards Carnifex. That mark he wore, the curse he had just used, he knew them all too well. But where had this psychopath gotten the mark? How was he connected to Trigon? He died years ago. Against his better judgment, he strode ahead of Huntress and called out to Carnifex.

"Yo! You with the overgrown axe!" he shouted angrily hoping to catch his attention. Unfortunately, he did just that. Carnifex paused in mid-swing and turned towards Cyborg.

"Huh, what do you know? I actually forgot about you" he said offhandedly. Cyborg's glare just intensified as he clutched the part that used to be where his left arm was attached.

"That's the mark of Scath you have on your arm. Where did you get it?" Cyborg demanded angrily. Carnifex gave him a predatory grin as he held up his mutated arm to openly display the infernally glowing symbol burning on his skin.

"Recognized the symbol I see. Not that it really matter, I'll still chop you to pieces" he said smugly, causing Cyborg to grit his teeth in frustration. Now normally he would be more calm and collected, but that infernal symbol was bringing out uncomfortable memories of the time they faced Trigon and his minions.

"I won't ask you again, where did you get that mark from?" Cyborg pressed on, trying to sound menacing. It was however obvious that Carnifex was anything but intimated as he roared with laughter.

"Why, from Trigon of course!" Carnifex finally answered as his laughter died down. Cyborg narrowed his eyes in suspicion at the madman.

"That's impossible. Trigon died years ago. I saw it with my own two eyes" he said harshly. Carnifex never lost his smug grin, but it was not he that answered this time but Krystal.

"You foolish little man. Do you truly believe that Trigon is bound by the same pitiful laws of death and mortality that we are enslaved to? His physical form is gone, but his power and spirit still lives on" she answered condescendingly towards Cyborg. But it seemed that Carnifex had grown tired of the discussion as without warning, he leaped right at Cyborg with an overhead axe swing directed at him. Cyborg was caught unprepared by the attack and would have been cleaved in two if not Huntress had reacted faster and tackled Cyborg to the side.

"Enough talking already! Let's just kill these shitbags and be done with it!" he snarled in fury, whatever traces of superior amusement he had possessed before had blown away like leaves in the wind. Leaving behind a mentally unstable killing machine with a hell of a lot of rage in need to be vented at anything that crossed his path. Huntress just smirked cockily as she got off of Cyborg and brought out her mini-crossbow.

"Bring it, Frankenstein" she said as she fired off a trio of crossbow bolts, all of which were intercepted mere inches from Carnifex's body by black shuriken needles.

"Considering there are now two opponents to fight this time, I feel it would be prudent of me to join in now" Krystal said as she casually strode up next to Carnifex, who just growled in anger towards her.

"Fine, you take the bitch with the crossbow. I'll take the walking hunk of scrap" he conceded angrily, he never liked to share victims with anyone. The two heroes meanwhile were making themselves ready for the confrontation.

"Think you can handle that hulking mass of flesh on steroids while I deal with the Asian woman?" Huntress asked Cyborg, who had just managed to get back up on his feet.

"Beat him on my own? No way. Keeping him occupied until back-up arrives? Maybe" Cyborg answered. Unseen by him, Huntress gave a predatory smirk.

"Good enough" she said before rushing at her opponent, firing a hail of crossbow bolts at her. Cyborg was not far behind as he transformed his remaining arm into a sonic cannon and began firing wildly at Carnifex. But as the two sides began battling again, none of them noticed that their whole fight had so far been observed by two pair of eyes. The first one felt that it had seen enough and began to silently slip away, its black leather clothes blending perfectly in with the shadows it hid in. just before it slipped away completely, the figure cast one last look at the battle, cold blue eyes shining underneath its hood. Then the figure was gone.

But the last one was still remaining, watching the battle in silent interest. Amusement radiated from the figure at the wounds Cyborg had so far sustained. It felt like it could stay here and watch this battle for all eternity. But alas, it had more important work to take care of. So it began to steadily withdraw from the area. There was so much work to be done, so much that needed to be prepared in so little time. But when the time was right, all of its hard work would be rewarded. Imagining the future that awaited this city and its protectors, the creature's hellish eye with the eight pointed star shone with malicious glee.

* * *

Jump City

Northern outskirts

02.10 pm

Looking out the window from the fifth floor on some rundown apartment complex, Zacharious let his hardened gaze travel across the city. Each time his eyes landed on a building, he could not help but feel sympathy for those within it, along with anger at himself. The Heartless was out there somewhere, murdering and scheming towards his own twisted goals, and he was just standing here doing nothing. But every time that thought struck him, he forced himself to take calming breaths and think logically. His team was already scouring the city for leads, and Zacharious needed to stay in their temporary headquarter to coordinate it all no matter how much he would rather be out searching himself.

Not bearing the view anymore with its temptation of taking action, Zacharious turned his eyes away and looked across the apartment he was currently living in. it was very plain and simple, just the way he liked it; a single bedroom with a bed, a closet and a writing desk along with a small kitchen. The rest of the team each had their own apartments on the same floor, all of them looking the same in construction and furniture. The landlord of the place was a decent guy, a bit grumpy all the time and very strict on the rules but a good man on the inside. And he was also a faithful catholic. That always counted as a plus in Zacharious' books.

He was so preoccupied with his own thoughts that he nearly leaped into the air when someone rapped on his window. Turning his gaze back to the window with wide eyes, he found Celestine crouched just outside on the fire escape. Taking a second to calm his heartbeat down, he then opened up the window.

"Report" he said gruffly. He never even bothered to ask why she was here, Celestine would only come here if she had found something of importance.

"Two of the city's guardians have engaged a pair of unidentified hostiles. They are not fairing very well" she answered monotonously. Zacharious raised an inquisitive eyebrow, since it was obviously not the Heartless she had spotted.

"While it is sad to hear that fellow guardians of order and justice are in trouble by the hands of evil, their battles are not our concern right now. All our attention should be on the greater threat present on the board; the Heartless" he explained. Zacharious was then sure that his eyesight must be failing him, because he could not have possibly seen Celestine squirm in nervousness before she spoke again.

"One of the hostiles…" she began but stopped for a moment as she seemed to struggle with herself to force out the rest "… was carrying the mark of Scath"

The Heartless himself could have at that point burst right through the walls with a cry of "honey, I'm home!" before kissing Zacharious fully on the lips, and he would have never noticed any of it. All his thoughts were burning from the name Scath, a name only spoken because none dared utter the daemon's true name in their holy sanctuary. For several, agonizing moments, Zacharious just stood like a lifeless statue with eyes filling up with dread.

"How?" he asked in a deathly quiet voice before he found more strength to continue "That monster was killed years ago, by his own offspring no less. He should be long gone by now, rotting away in the deepest pit of hell for all eternity. He can't be back, he just can't. And not now of all the times and places!"

Celestine sat quietly and listened to her leader's desperate rant in silence, fully understanding his plight here. Dealing with the Heartless was trouble enough as it was, the possibility of facing arguably _the _most feared and powerful daemon ever to tread upon this Earth was something even the most skilled and battle-hardened Templar would shy away from.

Having said his piece, Zacharious finally found the energy to calm his raging mind down and observe this new dilemma more logically. As he had said earlier, Trigon could not be back. He was dead now, plain and simple. But that then begged the question; where did this mysterious person get the mark of Scath, a mark that signified that he must have been in contact with Trigon at some point?

The most logical option was that someone had usurped Trigon's old position, such occurrences happened daily anyway among daemons. But still, it did not answer who this new fellow in Jump City was. _'Could he be some remnant of the old Church of Blood?' _he asked himself critically. That seemed plausible, but why was he here then? To exact revenge on his deity's killers? Possible, but not likely. If he was after revenge, he would have surely struck a long time ago. And besides, the one who delivered the deathblow passed herself away three years ago.

But that thought gave rise to another theory; could Raven's presence have daunted him from striking, and now that she was gone he was finally making his move? But Zacharious shook his head skeptically, still did not add up to him. If it was revenge, then he would have brought the whole cult down on the Titans heads. The more he thought of it, the more he suspected that this was not about revenge, but something else. But as usual, in comes then the eternal question; what? What was he doing here in Jump City? There could not possibly be something else in this city. Unless…

A cold feeling settled in Zacharious' stomach as his mind fearfully toyed with a new possibility; could this follower of Trigon be connected to the Heartless? The very thought sent uncomfortable chills up his spine. If this man was connected with the Heartless, then that meant that the Heartless must have the backing of whoever had taken over Trigon's old seat of power. For obvious reasons, Zacharious prayed that his assumptions where nothing more than that, assumptions.

"Celestine, find the others and tell them of what you've seen, along with my new orders. The Heartless is still our top priority, but have them be on the lookout for this new enemy as well. If they get a chance to eliminate him, then they are to take it without hesitation" Zacharious ordered Celestine, who just gave a curt nod before climbing up the fire escape to vanish over the roof edge. The moment she was gone, Zacharious gave a tired sigh as he dragged himself towards the kitchen. He just hoped that there was some form of alcoholic brew in this place for him to drown his worries in.

* * *

The battle

Same time

Flying through the air like ragdoll, Cyborg impacted into a car with enough force to crumple it under his weight. He gave a weak groan as he used his remaining arm to crawl back up on his feet. Just in time too, since Carnifex came charging at him like a bull seeing red. Cyborg barely jumped aside as Carnifex ploughed into the car and smashed it right through the small store it was parked in front of.

Not about to give him time to recover, Cyborg transformed his hand into a sonic cannon and blasted away at Carnifex's back. He was smashed further into the store from the blasts, but with a savage howl he swung around and deflected the incoming blasts with his axe while rushing at Cyborg again. Cyborg once again leaped to the side, but a backhanded slap from Carnifex's mutated arm caught him by surprise and sent him spinning to the ground. He rolled over on his back just in time to see his axe descending towards him.

In desperation he threw his arm forward and managed to catch the axe by its handle. But the strength behind the blow almost shattered his arm as metal plates groaned and buckled in protest to the sudden impact it had to endure. But Carnifex was not done yet. He leaned forward and put all his weight behind the axe. With only one arm to support the weight, Cyborg began to lose hold as the axe began to slowly descend towards him again.

Sweat poured down his still human brow as the pressure kept growing worse by the second. His arm was screaming at him to just let go and give up. But he ignored the increasingly groaning noises coming from his tortured metal arm and stubbornly held on. Above him, Carnifex leered down on his defenseless form as his face came closer towards Cyborg's.

"You're finished, tin can. I'll fucking cut you open like a can of sardines before shopping your fucking head into dog food" Carnifex sneered at him, drool leaking from his grinning mouth and falling on Cyborg. Snarling in disgust, Cyborg managed to drag his legs closer to his body before planting his feet firmly on Carnifex's stomach.

"Wanna bet?!" he shouted back before using both his arms and legs to throw Carnifex right over him. Carnifex crashed into the street headfirst, leaving him temporarily disoriented. A fact Cyborg was more than willing to exploit as he scrambled back up on his feet and ignoring all those taboos of "kicking a downed man" delivered a kick worthy of a top star football player straight into Carnifex's stomach before finishing with a hard stomp on his back.

With his own opponent temporarily incapacitated, Cyborg turned his attention to Huntress' battle. It was a macabre sight to behold, for if Cyborg did not know better he could have sworn they were locked in some intricate dance. The two combatants kept weaving in and out of each other, delivering fast and deadly strikes at the other before leaping back to try and nail their opponents with their respective range weapons. Crossbow bolts and black shuriken needles flew through the air between them, yet none of their projectiles managed to even glance the other.

Though both of them still kept up an impressive display of speed and agility against each other, Cyborg could clearly see the beads of sweat adorning Huntress' brow and her face was scrunched up in thought and worry. It was obvious she was tiring and would not last much longer against Krystal, who looked as fresh as when she started the fight. Without warning, Krystal sprung forward and managed to slip right under Huntress' guard. Before she could even retaliate, Krystal made a quick jab at a point in Huntress' right shoulder before leaping out of range from any counter blows.

Cyborg was about to rush to her aid, but he had severely underestimated Carnifex's resilience. The bloodthirsty lunatic had already recovered and while Cyborg was distracted swung his massive axe at his legs. Before Cyborg even knew what had happened, his left foot was severed cleanly off his legs and he was sent stumbling to the ground, shouting in pain.

Huntress meanwhile never even had time to scream out in pain from the sudden attack, for it had hit a vulnerable nerve cluster and rendered her right arm useless. What was worse, that brief contact was enough for Crystal's powers to catch hold. Already her clothes were starting to crystalize from that mere touch. Without a second thought, Huntress ripped off the piece of clothing covering her shoulder and quickly threw it away from herself.

"Well now, how do you plan to continue this fight with only one arm useful?" Krystal asked as she held her fan in front of her lower face, no doubt covering up the smug grin she was wearing underneath. Huntress just scowled at her as she tried to reload her crossbow with only one hand. Eventually just giving up, she threw the useless weapon aside and took up a fighting stance. Krystal just shrugged nonchalantly at her display of bravado.

"Your funeral" she said as more shuriken needles grew in her hands. And as the two ladies made ready to engage each other again, Carnifex climbed back to his feet and loomed over Cyborg with his axe held high.

"Try to save yourself this time" Carnifex taunted with eyes burning with unquenchable fury. He was about to bring his axe down on Cyborg, but before he even knew what was happening a small disk flew right in front of him and exploded in a blinding white flash.

"FUCK! MY EYES!" Carnifex roared in pain and shock before the very earth underneath came alive and threw him high into the air. Krystal, upon hearing the roaring from her companion turned in his direction in confusion, never even noticing the green starbolt coming at her from the opposite direction before it hit her and sent her crashing to the ground in shock.

"What was that?" Krystal asked mostly herself as she clambered back to her feet seconds before Carnifex came down like a meteorite next to her.

"You should probably surrender now" an authoritarian voice said to her. Turning to where the voice had come from, she found Nightwing standing there, arms crossed over his chest and a stern look on his face. He was soon joined by Terra floating down on a rock with Changeling on board. Starfire was not far behind as she came up next to Huntress, a fresh pair of starbolts loaded in her hands. Beside her, Carnifex grunted in irritation as he got back up on his feet.

"Well, would you look at that? More cattle to slaughter" he sneered at them, clearly not impressed by what he saw. Krystal gave her companion a look of disbelief.

"You can't seriously be thinking of facing them all?" she asked incredulously. He just answered with a bloodthirsty grin, causing her to snort in shock "I always knew you had an unhealthy obsession with blood and carnage, but this is pushing it"

Carnifex just threw his head back and laughed a deep and humorless laugh, with the Titans looking on in confusion and wariness.

"As if I care what you think of me, woman! The only reason I've even let you live so long's because we're supposed to be on the same side!" he practically shouted back at her. Krystal glared back at him and was about to retort with a snappy comeback when something stopped her.

"_If you two are done bickering like a pair of kids, I think it's time for you two to retreat" _a silky voice spoke in their heads. Carnife growled threateningly while Krystal gave a relieved sigh. They both knew who it was.

"_Stay the hell out of this! This doesn't concern you!" _Carnifex snapped back mentally. The one on the other end just chuckled.

"_Be that as it may, I'm still your superior officer here. And you will obey my orders"_ the mysterious person said, still with the same silky voice that just sent chills up your spine. Carnifex just grumbled something inaudible underneath his breath. Krystal said nothing, but her eye held a humorous glint in them that was screaming "I told you so".

"Now with that out of the way, why don't you create a diversion for us?" Krystal asked sweetly, causing Carnifex to grin manically and the Titans to tense up in preparation.

"For once, we actually agree on something" he answered. On some unspoken command, Krystal jumped down and hugged the ground tightly as Carnifex spun around in a circle, his mutated arm held out in front of him. Suddenly scorching flames spewed out of the maw like a dragon's breath. The Titans stared wide eyed at the wall of flames rushing towards them in captivated horror. Finally it seemed that at least Nightwing snapped out of his shocked state and shouted a single word.

"TERRA!" that was all that was needed to break the trance-like state for the rest and all the instructions Terra needed as she formed a protective wall of stone in front of them. The fire crashed into the protective wall seconds later, its burning flames licking at the edges and trying to spill over to incinerate those trying to hide from its scorching touch. But its wish was to be denied that day as soon the flames begin to die out, finding nothing to cling onto. As Terra brought down the protective wall, none of the gathered heroes were surprised to find Carnifex and Krystal gone.

"Well, that could have gone better" Changeling said lightheartedly. Nightwing just gave a grunt in response, though Cyborg was more vocal.

"Very funny, grass stain. Now could someone help me over here?" he shouted indignantly as he tried to get up on his own, despite lacking an arm and a foot. Changeling was instantly at his side, concerned for his friend's well-being. Seeing his look, Cyborg gave a dismissive wave with his remaining hand.

"Don't worry about me. I just need to pull myself together again and I'll be fine" he said. Changeling gave a light chuckle as he morphed into a bear to better support Cyborg. But as they conversed with one another, Nightwing had approached one of the crystalized victims standing like horror-stricken statues on the sidelines. His eyes travelled critically over the black crystal, somewhere in the back of his mind knowing that he had seen this before.

His eyes never left the statue, even as the Titans voices grew closer. His eyes narrowed in irritation as he racked his memories for anything. He just knew that he had seen this type of phenomenon somewhere else. But where? Suddenly it clicked in his mind. He remembered where this had happened before. But the memory brought with it a sense of dread.

* * *

_Flashback_

_Three years earlier_

"_ROBIN, WAIT!" Beast boy called out, but it was too late. The dagger sliced off three of Raven's fingers and when it cut through the crystal, the two opposing forces clashed with each other and disintegrated each other. Both Robin and Raven were knocked back by the shockwave, Raven landing just at the edge of the ever shrinking portal. While Robin was quick to get back up on his feet, Raven was not so fortunate. She was rolling around on the ground, howling in pain. Not so much from her physical wounds, those were just minor nuisances compared to the unbearable pain tearing though her mind. Mal'Bolough's last anguished scream still echoed in her mind. The reason for her pain was because he was bonded with her very soul. Now that he was dead it felt like someone had ripped her soul apart, and the pain it caused on her mind was impossible to describe. Mal'Bolough's power was also doing a number on her. It had for weeks been calmly floating inside Raven's body, but with Mal'Bolough gone now there was nothing left to control and regulate the flow, and it was now raging through her body like a hurricane. _

_What was worse, fragments from the destroyed crystal had buried themselves in her palm, and they were starting to slowly crystalize her hand. Already her palm had turned to crystal and it just continued to expand. Both Beast boy and Robin stared in horror at what happened to Raven. She ever so slowly got back up on her feet to stare in absolute panic at her crystalizing hand. Her mouth hung open as she clutched her arm that was growing ever number. The pain had still not lessened in her mind and it felt like her mind was slowly being splintered, already she could hear her emotions screaming in pain or fear inside her mind._

* * *

Present day

It could not be a mere coincidence. It just could not. That woman's powers were far too similar to what happened to Raven for it to be mere chance. He had found the answer to one question, but the answer had only created even more questions. _'Just what the hell is going on?' _he asked himself in despair. Far too much were happening at the same time.

"Nightwing?" Starfire's voice broke him from his thoughts as he turned around to face he confused looks from his team.

"You alright, man?" Cyborg asked from where he was using Changeling's bear form as a crutch. Nightwing let out a deep sigh as he cast a look over his shoulder at the lifeless statues that used to be innocent people.

"I'm not sure" was all he could say in response.

* * *

Jump City airport

01.25 pm

Airports were always crammed with people, as planes came and went on a daily basis. But this day, it was packed to the brim with people. _'Or is refugees a better description of them?'_ Iron Mask asked himself humorlessly as he casually strolled among the thousands of people moving like streams through the airport. One would think that the whole place would be in a state of pandemonium with a notorious terrorist walking around in plain view, but no one even gave him a second glance. This was no mere chance, for Iron Mask had used a small illusion spell on himself. When people looked at him, they saw not a murderer wearing an iron mask. What they saw was a young handsome man with short wild hair as black as the night.

But as he carelessly walked around, he spotted a young girl sitting by herself in a corner looking thoroughly miserable. Deciding that he might as well humor himself before departure, he walked up to her and took a seat next to her.

"_Bonjour" _he greeted cheerfully with a warm, and completely fake, smile on his lips. The girl looked at him in confusion.

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand you" she said hesitantly. He gave her a warm laugh in response.

"You have to _excuser_ me, but I'm still struggling with my English and I have a _habitude_ of slipping into my _originaire_ language" Iron Mask explained, still smiling warmly at the girl. The girl in turn smiled hesitantly back. _'Easier than I thought it would be' _he thought.

"May I ask where you're going?" he asked kindly. The girl immediately grew more depressed by the question as she looked away.

"Well… I planned on going to my aunt in Metropolis, at least until that terrorist is stopped. It's just not safe here in Jump City while he's lose" she answered sadly, leaving because of fear was apparently taking its toll on her. Iron Mask had to struggle in order to suppress his sneer. _'Running away because she's too chicken to face me. Pathetic' _he thought with disdain.

"Hey, you don't have to feel bad about it. I'm _sûr_ that more than half of those these people are here for the same _raison_ as you" he reassured her while internally he just wanted to gag. She already looked reassured as she smiled thankfully to him. Iron Mask just could not wait to tear her life to pieces right in front of her eyes.

"_Last plane leaving for Gotham City leaves in ten minutes" _a bored voice announced over the speakers. _'And that's my cue' _Iron Mask thought happily.

"Well, that's my plane. So I have to go now" he said to the girl as he stood up and began walking away.

"Wait!" the girl surprisingly called after him. He turned around and gave her an inquisitive look. She blushed slightly, but still managed to get out what she wanted to say.

"What's your name?" she asked while shyly trying to avoid eye contact. Iron Mask smiled warmly at her.

"Jacques DeMonde. And yours?" he inquired. She smiled back at him.

"Anna Chase. I hope we'll meet again sometime" she answered. Iron Mask gave a curt nod as he kept walking. _'For your sake, little girl, you better hope that we never meet again' _he thought sinisterly as he boarded his plane. For now, he had a mission to accomplish. Beware Gotham City, Iron Mask was coming to town.


End file.
